Al Firdaus Ensemble is a Sufi musical group based in Granada, Spain. Founded in 2012 by the English singer Ali Keeler, the ensemble consists of musicians from England, Spain, Morocco and Venezuela. [1] [2]
Al Firdaus Ensemble is a Sufi musical group based in Granada, Spain. Founded in 2012 by the English singer Ali Keeler, the ensemble consists of musicians from England, Spain, Morocco and Venezuela. [1] [2]
The name of the ensemble is inspired by the Persian word "Firdaus", the Arabic name for the highest garden in paradise from an Islamic perspective. [3]
The ensemble follows a combination of different musical styles, such as western classical sounds, Celtic music and flamenco, as well as new arrangements of numerous pieces from traditional Islamic Sufi music, which originate from Arabic, Andalusian and Turkish sources. The lyrics are mostly in Arabic and inspired by the poetry of the well-known Sufis of Al-Andalus as well as from the Arab world such as Ibn Arabi and Al-Shushtari. [4] In addition, its repertoire consists of musical adaptations of poems in old Spanish (called Aljamiado), which the Moriscos wrote down using Arabic script. The ensemble uses a variety of instruments, a combination of Persian, Arabic and Turkish (e.g. Oud, Daf, Darbuka, Riq, Ney longitudinal flute) and western classical instruments (e.g. violin, cello) as well the flamenco guitar. The ensemble consists of a number of singers, some of whom are soloists and others who sing in choirs. [5]
Religious music is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Religious songs have been described as a source of strength, as well as a means of easing pain, improving one's mood, and assisting in the discovery of meaning in one's suffering. While style and genre vary broadly across traditions, religious groups still share a variety of musical practices and techniques.
Romani music is the music of the Romani people who have their origins in northern India but today live mostly in Europe.
Moroccan music varies greatly between geographic regions and social groups. It is influenced by musical styles including Arab, Berber, Andalusi, Mediterranean, Saharan, West African, and others.
Arabic music or Arab music is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic dialects, with each country and region having their own traditional music.
Daf also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, many regions of Georgia, Pakistan as well as in parts of India and Russian polar regions. It is also popular among Balkans, Bukharan Jews, Caucasians, Kurds, and Macedonians.
The Music of Andalusia encompasses a range of traditional and modern musical genres which originate in the territory of Andalusia in southern Spain. The most famous are copla and flamenco, the latter being sometimes used as a portmanteau term for various regional musical traditions within Andalusia. Today, Andalusia has a rich and thriving musical scene, which draws from its own musical traditions as well as from external influences such as salsa, jazz or pop music.
Tunisia is a North African country with a predominantly Arabic-speaking population. The country is best known for malouf, a kind of music imported from Andalusia after the Spanish immigration in the 15th century. Though in its modern form, malouf is likely very dissimilar to any music played more than four centuries ago, it does have its roots in Spain and Portugal, and is closely related to genres with a similar history throughout North Africa, including malouf's Libyan cousin, Algerian gharnati and Moroccan ala or Andalusi. During the Ottoman era, malouf was influenced by Turkish music. However, Tunisian repertoires, styles and also instruments remain distinctive – the ʻūd tūnsī is an emblematic case. This is a close relative of the 'uds associated with Algeria and also Morocco.
Islamic music may refer to religious music, as performed in Islamic public services or private devotions, or more generally to musical traditions of the Muslim world. The heartland of Islam is the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia. Due to Islam being a multi-ethnic religion, the musical expression of its adherents is vastly diverse. Indigenous traditions of various part have influenced the musical styles popular among Muslims today. The word "music" in Arabic, the language of Islam, is defined more narrowly than in English or some other languages, and "its concept" was at least originally "reserved for secular art music; separate names and concepts belonged to folk songs and to religious chants".)
Andalusi classical music, also called Andalusi music or Arab-Andalusian music, is a genre of music originally developed in al-Andalus by the Muslim population of the region and the Moors. It then spread and influenced many different styles across the Maghreb after the Expulsion of the Moriscos. It originated in the music of al-Andalus between the 9th and 15th centuries. Some of its poems derive from famous authors such as al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad, Ibn Khafaja, al-Shushtari, and Ibn al-Khatib.
The qaṣīda is an ancient Arabic word and form of writing poetry, often translated as ode, passed to other cultures after the Arab Muslim expansion. The word qasidah is still used in its original birthplace, Arabia, and in all Arab countries.
Al-Andalus Ensemble is a husband and wife musical duo that performs contemporary Andalusian music. The ensemble features Tarik Banzi playing oud, ney and darbuka, and Julia Banzi on flamenco guitar.
Islamic culture and Muslim culture refer to cultural practices which are common to historically Islamic people. The early forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the early Umayyad period and the early Abbasid period, were predominantly Arab, Byzantine, Persian and Levantine. With the rapid expansion of the Islamic empires, Muslim culture has influenced and assimilated much from the Persian, Egyptian, North Caucasian, Turkic, Mongol, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Malay, Somali, Berber, Indonesian, and Moro cultures.
Radio Tarifa was a Spanish World music ensemble, combining Flamenco, Arab-Andalusian music, Arabic music, Moorish music and other musical influences of the Mediterranean, the Middle Ages and the Caribbean. The name of the ensemble comes from an imaginary radio station in Tarifa, a small town in the Spanish province of Cadiz, Andalusia, the closest part of Spain to Morocco. Instead of simply fusing musical styles as they are currently known, Radio Tarifa went back in time to the common past of those styles, before the final conquest of Granada in 1492, when the Moors and Jews were exiled from Spain. This invented style sheds light upon the real styles of Spain, most notably flamenco, although the band rejected all musical purism, preferring to mix arrangements of traditional compositions with their own melodies and combining instruments from Ancient Egypt, classical Greek and Roman times with modern saxophones and electric bass.
The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East, the Iranian traditions of Persia, the Jewish music of Israel and the diaspora, Armenian music, Kurdish music, Azeri Music, the varied traditions of Cypriot music, the music of Turkey, traditional Assyrian music, Coptic ritual music in Egypt as well as other genres of Egyptian music in general, and the Andalusian music very much alive in the greater Middle East, all maintain their own traditions. It is widely regarded that some Middle-Eastern musical styles have influenced Central Asia, as well as Spain, and the Balkans.
Françoise Atlan is a French singer and ethnomusicologist, born in a Sephardic Jewish family in Narbonne, France on 27 July 1964. Her father was a lawyer and native of Béjaïa, Algeria, and her mother was a pianist and a lyrical singer.
The Congrès du Caire was a large international symposium and music festival that was convened by King Fuad I in Cairo, Egypt, from March 14 to April 3, 1932. The idea had been suggested to Fuad by the French ethnomusicologist Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger, and the congress was the first large-scale forum to present, discuss, document and record the many musical traditions of the Arab world from North Africa and the Middle East.
The Shamss Ensemble is a musical group that performs traditional Sufi and classical Iranian music with the Tanbour, Daf, Ney and various other percussion instruments. The group was founded by composer Kaykhosro Pournazeri. His sons Tahmoures and Sohrab are also members of the group.
Julien Jalâl Eddine Weiss was a French musician, composer and the founder of Al-Kindi Ensemble, a Sufi musical group based in Aleppo, Syria.
Al-Kindi Ensemble is a Sufi musical group founded in 1983 by Julien Jalâl Eddine Weiss. Based in Aleppo, Syria, Al Kindi Ensemble is mostly known for its works on the Arab-Muslim and Sufi musical traditions.
Nafir, also nfīr, plural anfār, Turkish nefir, is a slender shrill-sounding straight natural trumpet with a cylindrical tube and a conical metal bell, producing one or two notes. It was used as a military signaling instrument and as a ceremonial instrument in countries shaped by Islamic culture in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. In Ottoman, Persian and Mugulin miniatures, the nafīr is depicted in battle scenes.