Souls in Exile
- Clare Wilkinson or Griet De Geyter, voice
- Sofie Vanden Eynde, lute, theorbo and artistic direction
- Moneim Adwan, voice & ud
In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest
where no-one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.
(Rumi)
Melancholy. Longing for the inaccessible. Yearning to lose oneself in paradise. An impossible love. Dissatisfaction with our existence on earth. Light is darkness, darkness light. Relentlesness of time. The quest for the sublime.
In the Renaissance era melancholy was a source of inspiration for artists who were constantly seeking equilibrium. From the darkest meanderings of their souls, within the space of a breath, their spirits were uplifted. Sufis seek out their path heavenwards aided by music and poetry. Discomfort is a source of beauty for them.
In this programme English lute song and Arabic song join hands across the miles. Music is a universal language, with the power to touch us all.
This programme appeared on CD (Cyprès) in 2013 and has been played the past years at the most important festivals throughout Europe.
Old music by J. Dowland, R. Johnson, N. Lanier, A. Ferrabosco
New music by M. Adwan, T. Smetryns
Texts by Jonson, Rossetti, Rumi, Al-Hallaj, Darwish, Tennyson, Ibn-Arabi