DIVINE MADNESS

With Clare Wilkinson or Griet De Geyter (voice), Sofie Vanden Eynde (lute and theorbo) and Moneim Adwan (voice and oud)

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest
where no-one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.(Rumi)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWsSZrKL-M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfectSvUA6Q

Melancholy. Longing for the inaccessible. Yearning to lose oneself in paradise. An impossible love. Dissatisfaction with our existence on earth. Light is darkness, darkness light. Relentlesness of time. The quest for the sublime.

In the Renaissance era melancholy was a source of inspiration for artists who were constantly seeking equilibrium. From the darkest meanderings of their souls, within the space of a breath, their spirits were uplifted. Sufis seek out their path heavenwards aided by music and poetry. Discomfort is a source of beauty for them. In this programme English lute song and Arabic song join hands across the miles. Music is a universal language, with the power to touch us all.It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

early music by J. Dowland, R. Johnson, N. Lanier, A. Ferrabosco
new music by Moneim Adwan, Thomas Smetryns
texts by Jonson, Rossetti, Rumi, Al-Hallaj, Darwish, Tennyson, Ibn-Arabi