The music of Rumi
Listen to the reed and the tale it tells, How it sings of separation...
The music of Rumi is...
- music of his poetry (the sound of language itself, in the original Persian)
- music as metaphor in his poetry (music, instruments, musicians...)
- music of the performed Rumi text
- music as a metaphor for the performance of all mystical love texts
- music as metaphor for the ritual experience of Rumi's poetry, for Rumi as Mevlana, as saint
- music as metaphor for mystical experience and spirituality generally
- music as metaphor for the harmonious machinery of the cosmos, the synchrony of micro/macrocosm, the mutual whirling of human and universe...
Concert sketch:
PART I
- Blackout....Swirling nay emerges, followed by deep-toned bendir/tar (fades in); recitation of Rumi's Masnavi in Persian (2 lines) enters, followed by English, theme of the nay, the reed-bed...tar fades out...
- Trio (Regula, Vinod, Michael) accompanies more recitation, theme of music...perhaps tar reenters at some point...then move to
- Geha's dance recitations, part I, with musical accompaniment, then
- Whirling dervishes projected onto screen (run throughout, but sound down) while next group sets up, with transition to
- Indian ensemble performance, followed by
- Rumi poetry recitation (just 2 minutes) in Persian then English with nay and tar, theme of love, with transition to
- Arab ensemble (containing Persian ensemble subgroup where Rumi's poetry is actually performed)
---start intermission---
(let video of whirling dervishes run with sound up)
---end intermission---
PART II
- Geha's dance recitations, part II (with musical accompaniment) opens second half,
Recitation (focus on ecstatic dance) with nay and tar, transition to
- Kreisha's performance
- More Rumi recitation with nay and tar, themes of ecstasy of the dance, then transition to
- African ensemble
- Final Rumi recitations - short poem --- concludes the program.