A wise man once said "cross-cultural pollination is the life blood of music". He could have had Jon Balke's "Siwan" featuring the remarkable Moroccan vocalist Amina Alaoui in mind.
The ensemble includes Norwegian Jon Balke who conceived the project and arranged the music, Amina Alaoui who sings poetic texts in Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese from the Al-Andalus period of Muslim Iberia (730 to 1492), John Hassell (trumpet, electronics)lives for this kind of cross-cultural synthesis, and 12 baroque soloists (Bjarte Eike's Barokksolistene) with strings and lute and harpsichord. The most soul stirring sounds come from the artists newest to me: Algerian violinist Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche and Amina Alaoui.
I'm fascinated by Amina. She is a virtuoso singer and musicologist. Born in Fez, she was originally schooled in the Moroccan Gharnati tradition. Gharnati derives from Al-Andalus, where it spread from Granada to North Africa. Amina continues to research connections between flamenco, fado and the music of Al-Andalus. On Siwan much of the music was originally composed to Spanish translations of the poetry. Alaoui then helped to reshape the material around original Arabic versions.
The inspiration for this project stemmed from Balke observing similiarities between two beautiful traditions represented by the voice of Amina Alaoui and early music, as explored by Bjarte Eiike's Barokksolistene. But it goes deeper.
Excerpting from the cd liner notes and ECM's website:
"The title Siwan means in balance, or equilibrium, in a mixed language called Aljamiado, spoken under the Inquisition in Spain.
This is a fascinating blend of Arabic and European music and poetry, which is very poorly documented in European music history. This project is not a musicological research, but rather a tribute to musical freedom. Andalus was a beacon of learning in the so-called Dark Ages, and unique in the degree of exchange between Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars. Balke points out there are striking correspondences in the writings of the Sufi poets and the Catholic and Sephardic mystics.
Siwan also raises questions about what was lost in the bonfires of the Inquisition, and points to the catastrophic costs of religious intolerance."
Siwan gathers nourishment from the cooperative spirit of Al-Andalus and creates an exquisite mosaic where the unlikely elements are integrated into an atmospheric whole. The results are not only sublime but a revelation.
(01). Tuchia
(02). Ya Andalucin
(03). Jadwa
(04). Ya Safwa Ti
(05). Ondas Do Mar De Vigo
(06). Itimad
(07). A La Dina
(08). Zahori
(09). Ayshyin Raquin
(10). Thulathyath
(11). Toda Sciencia Trancendiendo
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