Ha­mid Ajbar En­sem­ble (MA/ES)

MUSIC FROM AROUND THE WORLD

From Ibn Arabi to Santa Teresa: Arabic, Andalusian and flamenco music

"Jinnan Al Andalus" - Al-Andalus Gardens

In view of the times we live in, we dream more than ever of the blessed era when Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together peacefully in Granada and Córdoba. Singer and violinist Hamid Ajbar, who was born in Chaouen in Morocco and lives in Granada, embodies this sublime mixture of sounds, heart and spirit. This led him to found an ensemble in 2015 in which oud, violin and flamenco guitar sound together. In his music, the poetic heritage of the Spanish, North African and Near Eastern Sufi masters dialogues with the mystical work of St. Teresa of Avila, who, in the heart of her Catholic Castile, expressed the doctrine of tolerance, dating from the heyday of Al-Andalus, in Christian terms, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The program "Jardins d'Al-Andalus", which mixes flamenco with oriental harmonies, is the expression of this ideal: the term jinnan - Arabic for "gardens" - refers not only to the magnificent gardens that can be admired in the Alhambra in Granada, the Alcázar of Córdoba or the Ghuta in Damascus, but also to the heart - the soul: this cauldron of feelings and beauty. "I have known love since I knew your love," confessed the mystic Rabia al-Adawiyya in 8th century Iraq. "Blessed be the loving heart," replied Theresa of Avila 800 years later. A true symbol.

Hamid Ajbar, Director