Zaman Pts. 3 & 4

Final movement of Ashwaaq, composed for voice and string quartet, featuring selected verses from Ibn Arabi's Turjuman Al-Ashwaaq (Interpreter of Desires), a collection of mystical odes composed at the turn of the 13th century.

Live performance at the Festival d'Avignon, July, 2014. 
Performed by the Tana Quartet, Khaled AlHafez on vocal, Amir ElSaffar on santur.

The final lines of this poem are among the most widely read and quoted in Arabic poetry, about love of the divine in its constantly changing manifestations. Here, Ibn Arabi finds the unity in all religions, faiths, theosophies, and philosophies from a place free of dogma. That which is infinite cannot be grasped or contained, and is perceived through an open heart "capable of every form." 

١ ألا يا حمامات الأراكة والبان * ترفقن لا تضعفن بالشجو أشجاني 
٢  ترفقن لا تظهرن بالنوح والبكا * خفى صباباتي ومكنون أحزاني  
١٣ لقد صار قلبى قابلاً كل صورة * فمرعىً لغزلانٍ، ودير لرهبانِ
١٤ وبيتٌ لأوثانٍ، وكعبة طائفٍ * وألواح توراةٍ، ومصحف قرآنِ  
١٥ أدين بدين الحب أنَّى توجهتْ * ركائبه، فالحب ديني وإيماني
١٦ لنا أُسْوَة ٌ في بِشْرِ هندٍ وأُخْتِهَا	وقيسٍ وليلى ، ثمَّ مي وغيلانِ

Translation:
Gentle now, 
doves of the thornberry and moringa thicket, 
don't add to my heart-ache 
your sighs.

Gentle now, 
or your sad cooing 
will reveal the love I hide 
the sorrow I hide away.

My heart can take on 
any form: 
a meadow for gazelles, 
a cloister for monks,

For the idols, sacred ground, 
Ka'ba for the circling pilgrim, 
the tables of the Torah, 
the scrolls of the Qur'án.

I profess the religion of love; 
wherever its caravan turns along the way, 
that is the belief, 
the faith I keep.

Like Bishr, 
Hind and her sister, 
love-mad Qays and his lost Láyla, 
Máyya and her lover Ghaylán.
(Michael Sells)

About ASHWAAQ
Ibn Al Arabi is among the most revered Sufi philosophers, whose work is an embodiment of the ideals of love and transcendence. Tarjuman al Ashwaq (Interpreter of Desires), a collection of 61 poems cast in the person of Nizam, is an exploration of the divine and ecstatic nature of unity in the variety of the manifest world.

Selections from Ibn Al Arabi’s work are set for voice and string quartet, using the sonority of the combination of instruments to interpret and reflect upon the inner meanings of Ibn Al Arabi’s text within the resonance of the maqam (musical mode). Inspired by tarab, or ecstasy, the timbres evoke the overtones of the Arab takht (chamber ensemble) and rhythmic pulsations that conjure folk instruments and dance, combining with string techniques and affectations of contemporary music. 

The string quartet, a creation of the European enlightenment, occupies a central role in the western classical canon. More intimate than symphonic works, and with an interaction not found in solo repertoire, the quartet is a place of philosophical enquiry, where ideas and arguments are worked out in a dialectical framework with harmonic progression, counterpoint, and form as the aesthetic currency. 

Reading the text, Ashwaq's harmonies emanate from the sustained microtonal resonance inherent to the maqam. Exploring heterophony - simultaneous renderings of a single melodic phrase with variation - as an alternative to counterpoint, string and vocal melodies are woven around one another in expressions of unity in multiple forms. Reflections are made on maqam's overtones and the concept of maqam, referring to stations on the path of transcendence.


Ashwaaq - Ala Ya Hamamat

First movement of Ashwaaq, composed for voice and string quartet. This work features selected verses from Ibn Arabi's Turjuman Al-Ashwaaq (Interpreter of Desires), a collection of mystical odes composed at the turn of the 13th century. 

Live performance at the Festival d'Avignon, July, 2014. 
Performed by the Tana Quartet, Khaled AlHafez on vocal, Amir ElSaffar on santur.

This first poem of the Turjuman is based on Ibn-Arabi's initial encounter with Nizam, a young woman who approached him as he circumambulated the Ka'aba and critiqued the great Shaykh's understanding of the divine, providing the first spark of inspiration that would lead to the entire work of poems. 

ليت شعري هل دروا... أيَّ قلب ملكوا
وفؤادي لـو درى...أيَّ شِعب سلكوا
أتراهم سلمـوا...أم تراهم هلكـوا
حار أرباب الهوى ...في الهوى وارتبكوا

Translation:
I wish I knew if they knew whose heart they have taken
Or my heart knew which high-ridge track they follow.
Do you picture them safe, or do you picture them perished?
The lords of love in love are ensnared, bewildered. 
(Translation by Michael Sells)

About ASHWAAQ
Ibn Al Arabi is among the most revered Sufi philosophers, whose work is an embodiment of the ideals of love and transcendence. Tarjuman al Ashwaq (Interpreter of Desires), a collection of 61 poems cast in the person of Nizam, is an exploration of the divine and ecstatic nature of unity in the variety of the manifest world.

Selections from Ibn Al Arabi’s work are set for voice and string quartet, using the sonority of the combination of instruments to interpret and reflect upon the inner meanings of Ibn Al Arabi’s text within the resonance of the maqam (musical mode). Inspired by tarab, or ecstasy, the timbres evoke the overtones of the Arab takht (chamber ensemble) and rhythmic pulsations that conjure folk instruments and dance, combining with string techniques and affectations of contemporary music. 

The string quartet, a creation of the European enlightenment, occupies a central role in the western classical canon. More intimate than symphonic works, and with an interaction not found in solo repertoire, the quartet is a place of philosophical enquiry, where ideas and arguments are worked out in a dialectical framework with harmonic progression, counterpoint, and form as the aesthetic currency. 

Reading the text, Ashwaq's harmonies emanate from the sustained microtonal resonance inherent to the maqam. Exploring heterophony - simultaneous renderings of a single melodic phrase with variation - as an alternative to counterpoint, string and vocal melodies are woven around one another in expressions of unity in multiple forms. Reflections are made on maqam's overtones and the concept of maqam, referring to stations on the path of transcendence.


Ashwaaq - 1. Layta Shi'ri

First movement of Ashwaaq, composed for voice and string quartet. This work features selected verses from Ibn Arabi's Turjuman Al-Ashwaaq (Interpreter of Desires), a collection of mystical odes composed at the turn of the 13th century.

Live performance at the Festival d'Avignon, July, 2014. 
Performed by the Tana Quartet, Khaled AlHafez on vocal, Amir ElSaffar on santur.


Translation of poetry:
Flashes of lightning gleamed to us at al-Abraqán, and their peals of thunder crashed between the ribs.

Their clouds poured rain on every meadow and on every quivering branch that bends towards thee.

The watercourses were flooded and the breeze wafted perfume, and a ringdove flapped her wings and a twig put forth leaves.

Friendly damsels, bright of countenance, rising like the suns, large- eyed, noble, of generous race, and limber.

Ashwaaq Movement 5 - Lam'at Bil Abraqayni

Here are three tracks from Amir Elsaffar's latest album with his Two Rivers Ensemble, Crisis. More info at www.amirelsaffar.com.

04 El - Sha'ab (the People)

03 Taqsim Saba

Venus, the Evening Star

"Al-Badia" from Inana (2011)

"Khosh Reng" from Two Rivers (2007)

"Blues In E Half-Flat" from Two Rivers (2007)

"Foug il-Nakhl" from Maqams of Baghdad (2005)

El Leyla Hilwa

Interstices - Microtonal Piano Interlude #1

Rivers of Sound

Shards of Memory/B Half Flat Fantasy

                              

Ashwaaq for String Quartet, Santur, and Voice

Jourjina Over Three

Cornu Luminis, for trumpet and Symphony Orchestra
Composed by Amir ElSaffar, performed by Eastern Sierra Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edwin Outwater
August 5, 2018

Cornu Luminis for Trumpet and Symphony Orchestra - Excerpt

Amir ElSaffar with Ictus: Interstices for Octet plus One (2017)
From live performance at Handelsbeurs in Gent, February 17, 2019
Ictus: Sylvain Devaux – oboe; Dirk Descheemaeker – clarinet; Tom De Cock – percussion; Jean-Luc Plouvier – piano; Igor Semenoff – violin; Jeroen Robbrecht – viola; Geert De Bièvre – cello; Géry Cambier – contrabass; Amir ElSaffar – trumpet

Interstices Complete

Cornu Luminis

Trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and composer Amir ElSaffar has distinguished himself with a mastery of diverse musical traditions and a singular approach to combining Middle Eastern musical langauges with jazz and other styles of contemporary music. A recipient of the 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, ElSaffar has been described as “uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music without doing either harm,” (the Wire) and “one of the most promising figures in jazz today” (Chicago Tribune).

ElSaffar is an expert trumpeter with a classical background, conversant not only in the language of contemporary jazz, but has created techniques to play microtones and ornaments idiomatic to Arabic music that are not typically heard on the trumpet. Additionally, he is a purveyor of the centuries old, now endangered, Iraqi maqam tradition, which he performs actively as a vocalist and santur player. As a composer, ElSaffar has used the microtones found in Iraqi maqam music to create an innovative approach to harmony and melody. Described as “an imaginative bandleader, expanding the vocabulary of the trumpet and at the same time the modern jazz ensemble,” (All About Jazz), ElSaffar is an important voice in an age of cross-cultural music making.

amirelsaffar

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