Mercredi 30 Novembre 12 :00-14 :30

Yehudi Menuhin, European Parliament

Orient-Occident

Dialogue des âmes : bridging cultures through music Concert et conversation entre Jordi Savall, UNESCO Artist

for Peace, et Georges Corm, ancien ministre et historien

libanais

Hosted by MEP Ernest Maragall with the support of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament

UN DIALOGUE DES ÂMES

Écouter ces musiques d’Orient et d’Occident,

subtilement rassemblées par Jordi Savall, n’est pas une expérience

ordinaire. Parce qu’à l’émotion esthétique vient s’ajouter un

sentiment plus intense encore, celui de communier, par

enchantement, avec une humanité réconciliée.

Celle-ci n’a-t-elle pas perdu quelque chose de son âme

dans la seconde moitié du XVe siècle, lors de la mort simultanée de

Séfarade et d’al-Andalous, quarante ans après l’écroulement de

Byzance ? Entre l’Orient et l’Occident, des passerelles mentales et

spirituelles ont été détruites, qui n’ont jamais été réparées depuis. La

Méditerranée a cessé d’être cette mer nourricière située au centre de

notre univers culturel, pour ne plus être qu’un champ de bataille, et

une barrière.

Aujourd’hui, notre mer commune est le lieu où s’élève la

Muraille invisible qui partage la planète entre Nord apeuré et Sud

désespéré ; et entre des communautés planétaires qui ont pris

l’habitude de se méfier de « l’Autre », et de s’en démarquer. Le

monde arabe et le monde juif semblent avoir oublié leur féconde

parenté d’autrefois ; l’Orient musulman et l’Occident de tradition

chrétienne semblent enfermés dans une confrontation sans issue.

Pour redonner à notre humanité déboussolée quelques

signes d’espoir, il faut aller bien au-delà d’un dialogue des cultures

et des croyances, vers un dialogue des âmes. Telle est, en ce début

du XXIe siècle, la mission irremplaçable de l’art. Et c’est très

précisément ce que nous éprouvons à l’écoute de ces superbes

musiques venues d’époques et de terres diverses. Soudain nous

découvrons, ou redécouvrons, que les civilisations qui nous

paraissaient éloignées les unes des autres, et même ennemies, sont

étonnamment proches, étonnamment complices.

Au cours de ce voyage dans le temps et l’espace, nous

nous demandons à chaque instant si les conflits auxquels nous

sommes accoutumés ne sont pas trompeurs, finalement, et si la vérité

des hommes et des cultures ne réside pas plutôt dans ce dialogue des

instruments, des accords, des cadences, des gestes et des souffles.

Monte alors en nous un sentiment de joie profonde, né d’un acte de

foi : la diversité n’est pas forcément un prélude à l’adversité ; nos

cultures ne sont pas entourées de cloisons étanches ; notre monde

n’est pas condamné à des déchirements sans fin ; il peut encore être

sauvé...

N’est-ce pas là, d’ailleurs, depuis le commencement de

l’aventure humaine, la raison première de l’art ?

AMIN MAALOUF

ORIENT-OCCIDENT DIALOGUE DES ÂMES

Dialogue entre les musiques chrétiennes,

sépharades, ottomanes et arabo-andalouses

autour de la Méditerranée

SYRIE Invocation: ”Dance du vent”(ney)

ISRAËL Qamti be-Ishon Layla - Improvisation d’après le Cantique

des Cantiques

FRANCE La Quarte Estampie Royal - Le Manuscrit du Roi (Paris,

XIIIè siècle)

SYRIE À Damas - Texte: Qays ibn al-Moullawwah (Majnoun Layla)

MOLDAVIE Der makām-ı Hüseynī Sakīl-i Ağa Rıżā - Mss. D.

Cantemir, 89

CHYPRE Dillirga / Tillirkotissa - Chanson & dance de Chypre (grec

& turc)

ESPAGNE Paxarico tu te llamas (instr.) - Traditionnel séfarade

SYRIE Ce Brun Hal asmar – Chant traditionnel de Damas (Syrie)

ROUMANIE Der makām-ı Uzzäl Sakîl "Turna" Semâ’î - Mss. D.

Cantemir, 324

ISRAËL La Moledet shuvi roni - Asher Mizrahi (Jérusalem)

ARMÉNIE Ene Sarére – Traditionnel arménienne

CHYPRE Koniali - Chanson & dance traditionnel de

Grèce et Turquie

GRÈCE Apo xeno meros

ISRAËL Torah

SYRIE Ghazali

RHODES Durme, hermosa donzella (instr.)

MAROC Ghazali tal jàhri (instr.)

& Tous ensemble

HESPÈRION XXI

Orit Atar (Israël) Voix

Waed Bouhassoun (Syrie) Voix

Katerina Papadopoulou (Grèce) Voix

Haïg Sarikouyoumdjian Duduk & Belul

Moslem Rahal Ney

Yurdal Tokcan Oud

Hakan Güngör Kanun

Dimitri Psonis Santur & Moresca

Pedro Estevan Percussion

Jordi Savall Vièle, Rebec

& Direction

Avec le soutien du Département de la Culture de la

Generalitat de Catalunya et de l’Institut Ramon Llull

HESPÈRION XXI

Ancient music’s most important value stems from its ability as a

universal artistic language to transmit feelings, emotions and

ancestral ideas that even today can enthral the contemporary listener.

With a repertoire that encompasses the period between the 10th and

18th centuries, Hespèrion XXI searches continuously for new

points of union between the East and West, with a clear desire for

integration and for the recovery of international musical heritage,

especially that of the Mediterranean basin and with links to the New

World.

In 1974 Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, together with Lorenzo

Alpert and Hopkinson Smith, founded the ancient music

ensemble Hespèrion XX in Basel as a way of recovering and

disseminating the rich and fascinating musical repertoire prior to the

19th century on the basis of historical criteria and the use of original

instruments. The name Hespèrion means “an inhabitant of Hesperia”,

which in ancient Greek referred to the two most westerly peninsulas

in Europe: the Iberian and the Italian. It was also the name given to

the planet Venus as it appeared in the west. At the turn of the 21st

century Hespèrion XX became known as Hespèrion XXI.

Today Hespèrion XXI is central to the understanding of the music

of the period between the Middle Ages and the Baroque. Their

labours to recover works, scores, instruments and unpublished

documents have a double and incalculable value. On one hand, their

rigorous research provides new information and understanding about

the historical knowledge of the period, and on the other hand, the

exquisite performances enable people to freely enjoy the aesthetic

and spiritual delicacy of the works of this period.

Right from the beginning Hespèrion XXI set out on a clearly

innovative and artistic course that would lead to the establishment of

a school in the field of ancient music because they conceived, and

continue to conceive, ancient music as an experimental musical tool

and with it they seek the maximum beauty and expressiveness in

their performances. Any musician in the field of ancient music will

have a commitment to the original spirit of each work and has to

learn to connect with it by studying the composer, the instruments of

the period, the work itself and the circumstances surrounding it. But

as a craftsman in the art of music, he is also obliged to make

decisions about the piece being played: a musician’s capacity to

connect the past with the present and to connect culture with its

dissemination depend on his skill, creativity and capacity to transmit

emotions.

Hespèrion XXI’s repertoire includes, amongst others, the music of

the Sephardi Jews, Castilian romances, pieces from the Spanish

Golden Age, and Europa de les Nacions. Some of their most

celebrated concert programmes are Les Cantigues de Santa Maria

d’Alfons X El Savi, La Diàspora Sefardí, the music of Jerusalem,

Istanbul, Armenia and the Folías Criollas. Thanks to the outstanding

work of numerous musicians and collaborators who have worked

with the ensemble over all these years Hespèrion XXI still plays a

key role in the recovery and reappraisal of the musical heritage, and

one that has great resonance throughout the world. The group has

published more than 60 CDs and performs concerts for the whole

world, appearing regularly at the great international festivals of

ancient music.

Orit Atar (Israël) Voix A poet and singer with unique and exciting voice that penetrates to

the soul. Sings Jewish prayers with Moroccan Andalusian melodies.

Performs in concerts in Israel and the world with orchestras in

Jewish music festivals and world music.

Soloist of the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra. Successful emotion and

touch the heart of the audience. In her performances sings in

Moroccan Jewish liturgical and favourite songs Moroccan,

Andalusian, French, Algerian, Spanish, Ladino and more.

Orit has collaborated with singers: David Daor ,Kobi Aflalo, Etti

Ankri , Dikla ,Mika Karni, Yair Dalal ,Lior Elmalech, Shlomo Bar

and more. Orit collaborated with Israeli music producer Nadav Biton.

Together they worked on the new album coming out so on.

Waed Bouhassoun (Syrie) Voix La jeune joueuse de luth et chanteuse syrienne, Waed Bouhassoun

possède un timbre de voix d’une qualité rare, comme on n’en entend

plus qu’exceptionnellement, une de ces fameuses voix de la chanson

arabe des années trente. On va tout de suite penser à Oum Kalthoum

ou à Asmahan, mais non, pas du tout, bien qu’elle soit de la même

ville que cette dernière, Waed a une voix qui n’est la copie d’aucune

autre, elle a la voix de Waed. Dès sa première audition à Alep, les

spécialistes (sammaïnes) ne s’y sont pas trompé et ont

immédiatement reconnu son talent et symboliquement autorisée à se

présenter en public ce qu’elle fit à Paris à la Maison des Cultures du

Monde et à l’Institut du Monde Arabe en mars 2006. Le succès là

aussi fut immédiat et la presse unanime salue «une révélation », « les

applaudissements pleuvent » « l’époustouflante Waed »...

De retour en Syrie, Waed va enchaîner les concerts notamment à

l’Opéra de Damas. Toujours en 2006, elle est invitée au Festival

d’Assilah puis au Festival de la Madinah à Tunis avant une nouvelle

tournée en France, puis le Festival de Tétouan (mai 2007), celui des

musiques sacrées du monde à Fès (juin 2007) et à nouveau le

Festival d’Assilah (2007).

Le 31 janvier 2008, dans le Salon des Ambassadeurs de l’Alhambra

de Grenade, elle est, avec Curro et Carlos Piñana, la vedette du

concert d’inauguration de “Damas capitale culturelle du monde

arabe”. Elle y interprète, en s’accompagnant au ‘oud, des poèmes de

Wallada et d’Ibn Zaydoun qu’elle a mis en musique. Le concert est

retransmis par plusieurs télévisions du monde arabe. En mars 2008

Waed présente, en création mondiale, à l’Auditorium de l’Opéra

Bastille à Paris, dans le cadre du Festival de l’Imaginaire, des

poèmes chantés de la grande mystique Rabi’a al ’Adawiya,

accompagnée par le joueur de nay Kudsi Erguner, un muezzin

d’Istambul, un joueur de kanoun et un percussionniste. Ce même

concert sera invité à l’Opéra de Damas puis à Soueida (Syrie) en mai

2008 et le 30 juin au Festival de Spoleto (Italie). Depuis la parution

de son premier CD : “La voix de l’amour”, elle a présenté plusieurs

concerts en solo.

Actuellement Waed présente des concerts en solo avec des

participations à des concerts avec d’autres musiciens ou des

ensembles (notamment celui de Jordi Savall avec lequel elle a

enregistré un CD en 2013: Orient Occident II : Hommage à la Syrie).

Katerina Papadopoulou (Grèce) Voix She was born in Athens. Eight years old she entered J.Tsiamoulis

choir where she attended Byzantine music and folk singing lessons

as well as Greek traditional dance. She participated in all the

concerts and recordings of the choir until 1990. At the age of

thirteen she started ud lessons with H.Tsiamoulis.

In 1991 she represented Greece at the world meeting of young artists

(JMF-Jeunesse Musiqual de France), which took place in Paris,

playing ud and singing.

From 1993 to 2001 she worked as an ud teacher at the “experimental

music high school of Pallini. In 1995 she lectured workshops about

the Greek music and musical instruments in high schools and

lyceums of Finland. She has also worked for five years at the “Pireas

music center”, teaching ud and being a member of the “orchestra of

Pireas municipality”. In 2000 she acquired her Byzantine music

diploma after attending lessons with Y.Arvanitis.

She has sung in several music programs broadcasted by Greek

national TV about rebetiko and Greek traditional music. The most

important are: a series for Traditional music called “Lalitades”, and

two series about rebetiko, one called: “In rememberance of beautiful

times”, and another called: “The four famous composers of Piraeus”.

She has participated in several recordings of Greek traditional music

as well as contemporary Greek music.

In 2000 - after archive and personal research – she recorded with

S.Sinopoulos, P.Dimitrakopoulos and V.Karipis a CD with songs

from Meli in A.Minor named: “Ta tragoudakia mou poulo”. The CD

was published in 2002 and was voted from the music magazine

“Echo & artis” as the best CD of Greek traditional music for the year

2002. In May of 2007 she released the cd-single “San

helidoni”(Cantini), singing three songs of Sokratis Sinopoulos. In

the autumn of 2008 she released “Amygdalaki tsakisa”(Music

Corner), an lp with songs from different regions of Greece. In May

2010 together with Hristos Tsiamoulis and Sokratis Sinopoulos they

published “Politiki zygia”(Legend), which was a live recording of a

concert in Utreht in November 2008. In 2013 "Amygdalaki tsakisa"

was published in the United States of America by Golden Horn

Records with the title : "Drawing in an almond".

In the Greek traditional music field she has worked with: D.Samiou,

H.Aidonidis, M.Kaliontzidis, H.Tsiamoulis, “Archive of Greek

music”, “The Melpo Merlier music folklore archive” and others, and

in the contemporary Greek music field with: N.Xidakis,

N.Papazoglou, P.Thalassinos, P.Dourdoubakis, “Orchestra of

colours”, Evanthia Remboutsika and others.

She teaches Greek folk singing in the “Conservatory of Athens

1871”.

Haïg Sarikouyoumdjian Duduk & Belul Born in 1985. He begins the doudouk (Armenian oboe) in the age of

13 years. He makes numerous stays with different masters in

Armenia, where he learnt on one hand the technique of the

instrument, with all his nuances of stamp, and on the other hand the

traditional repertoire with all it subtleties (subtlety of the interval,

the intonations, the ambiguities and the rhythmic multiplicities, the

work of the ornament, the development of the modes).

He collaborated until 2004 with an Armenian traditional set (group),

supervised by Gaguik Mouradian who profoundly marked him by

the approach of the music. He works now on various projects of

which Medjlis, where the Armenian music meets the jazz and the

contemporary music and a duo of traditional music of Armenia. In

2009 he started to collaborate with Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI.

With them he has participated in different projects around the world

Moslem Rahal Ney Graduated from the High Institute of Music in Damascus, he is also

a composer and Instrument maker for Ney and Kawala. He performs

as Soloist at the Syrian National Symphony Orchestra and he is a

member in The National Arabic Music Group. Moslme is as a

teacher of ney in the High Institute of Music in Damascus. He has

been the founder and the conductor of the ensembles "Nawa Group"

& “Shams Ensemble Group".

Moslem has participated in the Arabic scientific of Music as

arbitration for developing Nay and also in the international meeting

of Nay solist in 25th Jerash Festival. He have played with the

Philharmonic Orchestra of Qatar for the "Concerto Arab" composed

by Marcel Khalifa" in some very famous venues as the Albert Hall

in UK, La Scala Milan (Italy), the Theatre Champs Elysees in Paris

and in the Opera Kennedy Center in Washington.

His productive musical career has lead him to play around the world

in the most renewed venues visiting Europe and Asia with the Syrian

Symphony Orchestra, the National Group for Arabic Music, and

performing in a lot of Festivals.

As a writer, he wrote the chapter specified for the Ney instrument in

The Musical Dictionary collected by professor Victor Babinco. He

also wrote a manuscript titled "Ney between Making and Playing".

Moslem Rahal has been invited by Maestro Jordi Savall to perform

in his concerts as Ney soloist travelling around the world and he has

been very welcomed by the international press for his performances.

Yurdal Tokcan Oud Yurdal Tokcan is being regarded as one of the finest oud players in

the world today. His style combines older traditions with many new

stylistic innovations, which are also present in his playing of the

fretless guitar. His new compositions combine traditional rich

melodies with polyphonic textures performed on Turkish classical

instruments.

Tokcan is a graduate of Istanbul Technical University’s Turkish

State Conservatory. While completing his master’s program there,

he joined the faculty as an oud instructor. Tokcan continues to teach,

sharing his knowledge, experience, and technique with Turkish and

foreign students.

In 1990, he joined Istanbul State Classical Turkish Music Ensemble

under the artistic direction of Tanburi Necdet Yasar. He is a member

of the Istanbul Fasil Ensemble and the Istanbul Tasavvuf Music

Ensemble, and a founding member of the Istanbul Sazendeleri, a

group dedicated to presenting Turkish instrumental works. Tokcan

has participated in many recordings and has performed

internationally.

As a soloist, Tokcan performed in the Netherlands with the

Amsterdam Percussion Group and Chamber Orchestra in a program

titled European Music Around Oud, and with the Tekfen

Philharmonic Orchestra in Turkey, the United Kingdom, France,

Germany and Belgium. Tokcan joined Burhan Ocal (percussion),

Goksel Baktagir (kanun), Selim Guler (kemence), and Arif Erdebil

(ney) in concert, the recording of which won the 1998 “Best Ethnic

Album” in France. Tokcan has played in many of ney virtuoso Kudsi

Erguner’s ensembles, both in Turkey and abroad. He performed in

Israel with Group Baharat and with long time collaborator, kanun

player Goksel Baktagir. Recently, Tokcan has been recording and

performing with Israeli Ladino artist Hadass Pal Yarden. His work

can also be heard on Bende Can, an album of his original

compositions.

Tokcan represented Turkey in several international festivals and

celebrations, including the 3rd International Oud and Lavta Festival

in Dresden, Germany and the 2002 International Oud Meeting in

Thessaloniki, Greece (along with oud players Ara Dinkjian, Simon

Shaheen, Haig Yazdjian, and Omar Bashir). In 2003, he performed

at the Oud Festival in Jordan, at the Arabic Music Festival at the

Cairo Opera Hall, and Turkish Year in Japan. Tokcan performed in

Jerusalem in a pan-Mediterranean

Hakan Güngör Kanun He was born in Ankara at 1973. He received his first music lessons

from his father, oud player Ali Osman Güngör and his first Kanun

lessons from Ozhan Kayhan. At 1990 initially, he studied at the

music department of Gazi University and then at 1992, he passed

to Composition Department of ITU Turkish Music Conservatory.

During six years, he followed the courses of named musicians and

professors such as Yavuz Ozustun, Nail Yavuzoglu, Emin Sabitoglu,

Mutlu Torun, Selahattin Icli, Ruhi Ayangil, Erol Deran about

solfege, composition, harmony and counterpoint, technics of Kanun,

European classical music and Turkish classical music. His melodic

style, his rich sound as well as, the clearness and tenderness of his

Mezrab (plectrum) make him very unique. He is considered a

virtuoso of this instrument.

Since the 1993 he collaborated with world famous musicians such

as; KUDSI ERGUNER, JORDi SAVALL, YOYOMA, RENAUD

GARCIA-FONS, FAZIL SAY, OKAY TEMIZ. He has participated

in their concerts and played in their CDs made in Europe and Turkey.

Beside giving concerts, he is a teaching specialist at Halic University

and he works at Istanbul Radio House as a Kanun player. He also

produces and presents the famous show MUZIK DEYINCE at TRT

Music Channel.

Dimitri Psonis Santur & Moresca Dimitri Psonis débute à Athènes, sa ville natale, ses études d’analyse

musicale, harmonie, contrepoint, musique byzantine et instruments

populaires grecs. Il les poursuit à Madrid, où il obtient le titre le plus

élevé pour la percussion et la pédagogie musicale au Conservatorio

Superior de Música, de marimba avec Robert Van Sice et Peter

Prommel, et de musique contemporaine avec Iannis Xenakis. Il

collabore avec de nombreux orchestres en Espagne. Il a fondé les

ensembles de percussion Krustá, Aula del Conservatorio de Madrid,

P’An-Ku et Trío de Marimbas Acroma.

Il a collaboré avec plusieurs troupes de théâtre et a réalisé des

enregistrements pour RNE et TVE et enregistré la bande sonore de

divers films.

Il travaille avec de nombreux ensembles de musique ancienne :

Hespèrion XXI, Le Concert des Nations, Sema, Speculum, Orchestre

Baroque de Limoges.

Il donne des cours de percussion et de pédagogie dans différentes

écoles de musique et conservatoires, ainsi que des conférences sur la

musique orientale.

Récemment, il s’est consacré à l’interprétation de la musique

classique ottomane et de la musique populaire de Grèce et de

Turquie, ainsi qu’à ses instruments : santur et tar iraniens, saz et oud

turcs, santuri et lauto grecs et tous les instruments à percussion de

ces régions. Il a fondé l’ensemble Metamorfósis puis Misrab, avec

Pedro Estevan et Ross Daly.

Pedro Estevan Percussion Pedro Estevan began to study percussion at Madrid’s Conservatory

of Music, moving subsequently to Aix-en Provence to study

contemporary percussion with Sylvio Gualda and African percussion

with the Senegalese teacher Doudou Ndiaye Rose. He has also

studied tambourine technique with Glen Velez.

A founding member of The Percussion Group of Madrid, he has

worked with many important national and international musical

formations such as the National Orchestra of Spain, Radio

Television of Spain, Madrid Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian of

Lisbon, Orchestra of the 18th Century directed by Frans Brüggen

and with the groups: Koan, Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse, Paul

Winter Consort, Camerata Iberia, Anleut Música, Ensemble La

Romanesca, Accentus, Sinfonye, La Real Cámara and Ensemble

Baroque de Limoges.

An eclectic musician, he feels a special commitment to early music -

Hespèrion XXI, Le Concert des Nations, Ensemble La Romanesca,

The Harp Consort and SEMA- and to contemporary music -

Rarafonâa, Grupo Círculo, Orquesta de las Nubes and PAN-KU

Percusión.

As a concert soloist he has performed with the Orquesta de Cámara

Nacional de España and with the Orquesta Reina Sofía, participating

in highly prestigious festivals and in numerous programmes of

contemporary music with sessions exclusively featuring percussion.

He has taken part in various productions for radios and televisions in

Spain, United Kingdom, Norway, USA, Canada, Japan and Australia

and he has participated in more than one hundred cds, with special

mention to: «Nocturnos y Alevosias» and «El aroma del Tiempo».

He took part in the Paul Winter cd which received a Grammy on

1993.

He also teaches Historic Percurssion at the ESMUC (The Superior

Music School of Catalonia).

JORDI SAVALL

For more than fifty years, Jordi Savall, one of the most versatile

musical personalities of his generation, has rescued musical gems

from the obscurity of neglect and oblivion and given them back for

all to enjoy. A tireless researcher into early music, he interprets and

performs the repertory both as a gambist and a conductor. His

activities as a concert performer, teacher, researcher and creator of

new musical and cultural projects have made him a leading figure in

the reappraisal of historical music. Together with Montserrat

Figueras, he founded the ensembles Hespèrion XXI (1974), La

Capella Reial de Catalunya (1987) and Le Concert des Nations

(1989), with whom he explores and creates a world of emotion and

beauty shared with millions of early music enthusiasts around the

world.

Savall has recorded and released more than 230 discs covering the

Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical music repertories,

with a special focus on the Hispanic and Mediterranean musical

heritage, receiving many awards and distinctions such as the Midem

Classical Award, the International Classical Music Award and the

Grammy Award. His concert programmes have made music an

instrument of mediation to achieve understanding and peace between

different and sometimes warring peoples and cultures. Accordingly,

guest artists appearing with his ensembles include Arab, Israeli,

Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Afghan, Mexican and North American

musicians. In 2008 Jordi Savall was appointed European Union

Ambassador for intercultural dialogue and, together with Montserrat

Figueras, was named “Artist for Peace” under the UNESCO “Good

Will Ambassadors” programme.

Jordi Savall’s prolific musical career has brought him the highest

national and international distinctions, including honorary doctorates

from the Universities of Evora (Portugal), Barcelona (Catalonia),

Louvain (Belgium) and Basel (Switzerland), the order of Chevalier

de la Légion d’Honneur (France), the Praetorius Music Prize

awarded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of Lower Saxony,

the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the prestigious

Léonie Sonning Prize, which is considered the Nobel prize of the

music world. “Jordi Savall testifies to a common cultural inheritance

of infinite variety. He is a man for our time” (The Guardian, 2011).