Program
SONGS FROM AL ANDALUS TO THE COUNTRY OF THE LANGUE D'OÏL
Concerts given at:
Songs of the trouvères and the Algerian nawba
Sept. 07, 2023 - Sablonceaux Abbey (17)
Sept. 18, 2022 - Cultural Center, Luynes (37)
February 16, 2022 - Arab World Institute, Paris (75)
March 03, 2020 - La Passerelle, Fleury-les-Aubray (45)
July 25, 2019 - Radio France Festival, Najac (12)
July 24, 2019 - Radio France Festival, Marchastel (48)
July 23, 2019 - Radio France Festival, Arles sur Tech (66)
April 26, 2019 - Cultural Center, Le Blanc (36)
April 02, 2019 - French Institute, Tlemcen (Algeria)
March 30, 2019 - Saint-Augustin Basilica, Annaba (Algeria)
March 28, 2019 - Notre-Dame Basilica, Algiers (Algeria)
July 22, 2018 - Sainte-Cécile chapel, Flée (72)
January 28, 2018 - Saint-Libert chapel, Tours (37)
July 08, 2017 - Les Méridiennes Festival, Tours (37)
Listen
"This ambitious collaboration recreates the Mediterranean sound universe of the 12th century and unveils the subtle and magnificent musical art of ancient Arab dynasties and the extraordinary poems and music of French trouvères."
Courtly love gave birth in the 12th century to a powerful movement of poetic and musical creation within a society which aspired to a new art of living. The themes of the courtly songs which then arise have been present for a long time on both sides of the Mediterranean. Indeed, the poetic corpus of the Algerian nawba is mainly linked to the great topoï of Arab love. Love, absence, drink, nature – most often the garden and the flowers that compose it – are declaimed and chanted. But it is often necessary to apprehend this poetry in the second degree, it then becomes mystical.
The links between East and West, revealed by the monody of the 12th and 13th centuries, are obvious, making it possible to highlight the art of singing and that of instrumental accompaniment on both sides of the Mediterranean.
Thus, songs by minstrels and troubadours and Arabic songs respond to each other in sometimes very similar ways, accompanied by the harp, and by an emblematic instrument of the Algerian tradition : the oud.