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Press Release
London, April 2018
Towards a New Divan: A Celebration of East and West through Music and Poetry
Wilton’s Music Hall, 20 June 2018
TAFAHUM and GINGKO come together on 20 June 2018 at 7.30pm at Wilton Hall, London, in a unique celebration of two centuries of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan. The occasion will feature the world premiere of a new musical composition celebrating the launch of Gingko’s momentous NEW DIVAN project, the culmination of which will be a festival of music and poetry hosted in the UK by the Hay and Shubbak festivals in summer 2019 and in Germany by the Berlin-based Barenboim-Said Akademie in the autumn. The 20 June concert, along with TAFAHUM’s new composition, have been made possible with support from Amal - A Said Foundation Project. A NEW DIVAN will mark the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan (1819). Bringing together twenty-four leading poets – twelve from the ‘East’ and twelve from the ‘West’ – it is a lyrical conversation inspired by the culture of the Other. These poets seek to continue the dialogue which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe started with Hafiz, the fifteenth-century Persian poet he thought of as his ‘twin’, the results of which he published in the West-Eastern Divan. The concert will feature a new musical composition by the London-based TAFAHUM inspired by the Syrian poet Adonis’ especially commissioned contribution to the A NEW DIVAN, entitled Letter to Goethe. TAFAHUM brings together a team of professional musicians from countries including Canada, Syria, Japan and the UK. The programme will include new works especially composed for the evening and reworkings of pieces such as Samai Chromatic, Sufi Mood, Crossing Green and Wiladah. During the concert Gingko Trustee and Dean of the Barenboim-Said Akademie, Professor Mena Mark Hanna, will introduce the NEW DIVAN project and offer a flavour of this momentous trans-cultural project and the accompanying schedule of events and performances due to take place over the coming year. Bill Swainson, the project’s editor, will announce the names of the twenty-two English-language poets taking part. ‘This is a thrilling and important project to be a part of and we are particularly excited to be collaborating with Gingko on it,’ explains renowned British composer and co-founder of Tafahum, Benjamin Ellin. ‘It again shows the beauty and collaboration of ideas and arts from across the cultures and how they can weave together and, ultimately, unite people.’ ‘I’m very excited to release on the night of the concert, Adonis’ brilliant poem Letter to Goethe, both in the Arabic original as well as Khaled Mattawa’s English translation of it,’ says Barbara Schwepcke, CEO and Founder of Gingko. ‘It will be a taster for A New Divan, a life-enhancing conversation in poetry, which Gingko will publish in 2019 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan.’ Booking Info
Tickets are available via Eventbrite - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/towards-a-new-divan-a-celebration-
of-east-and-west-through-music-and-poetry-tickets-44840882286?aff=es2
Notes for Editors
About A New Divan
A New Divan is a Gingko project that aims to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Goethe’s West-Eastern Divan (1819). This ambitious anthology will bring together twenty-four leading poets – 12 from the ‘East’ and 12 from the ‘West’ – in a truly international poetic dialogue inspired by the culture of the other. A New Divan’s contributing poets hail from across the East (from Morocco to Turkey, Syria to Afghanistan) and from across the West (from Germany to Mexico, Estonia to Brazil). The new poems will respond to the titles of the twelve books of Goethe’s original Divan, including ‘The Poet’, ‘Love’, ‘Ill-humour’, ‘The Cup-Bearer’, ‘The Tyrant’ and ‘Paradise’, and will draw on the distinctive poetic forms of the cultures of the poets taking part. Twenty-two English-language poets have been commissioned to create English versions of the poems not originally written in English, either by direct translation or by working with a literal translation. Each poem will appear in English facing the original language of composition in a unique multi-lingual anthology. Three pairs of essays will enhance and complement the poems, mirroring Goethe’s original notes and commentary, which he called ‘For Better Understanding…’.The whole book will be a life-enhancing dialogue in the spirit of Goethe’s original. Many of the contributing poets will tour the UK in the summer of 2019, and all the poets, translators and musicians will come together in a festival of music and poetry in the summer of 2019 in Berlin, hosted by the Barenboim-Said Akademie. The schedule of performances and appearances due to take place over the coming year will be announced on the evening of 20 June. ‘A highly auspicious and commendable initiative . . . I hope that this initiative will, albeit slowly facilitate and promote the process of peace and mutual understanding among peoples around the globe.’ Mahmoud Dowlatabi, speaking at the launch of the NEW DIVAN project in 2016. www.gingko.org.uk/new-divan About Gingko
Gingko is committed to creating better understanding between the West and the Middle East and North Africa. Founded in 2014, it achieves this through conferences and lectures, an ambitious scholarly publication and translation programme, and an interfaith fellowship programme. In all these endeavours Gingko brings together scholars, contributors and interested members of the public in a lively yet respectful exchange of views based on the principle that in order to understand each other one first has to listen to the Other. By promoting a more informed public, wider interest in and better understanding of the Middle East and North Africa region, Gingko fosters dialogue and debate, and gives a voice to a new generation of thinkers and opinion formers. www.gingko.org.uk
About Tafahum
‘A Levantine meets classical meets jazz spectacular’
Tafahum is a vibrant and first class contemporary-fusion group bringing together a core of classically trained Eastern and Western musicians led by both critically-acclaimed British Conductor and Composer Benjamin Ellin alongside Syrian born Ney soloist Louai Alhenawi. Tafahum unites composers, performers and audiences in repertoire that features new works, adaptations of traditional folk music and cross genre collaborations between other musical groups as well as other art forms. Drawing inspiration from Adonis’ especially commissioned poem Letter to Goethe, TAFAHUM’S new work teases out the similarities in seemingly disparate ideas rooted in time and mythology. At times discordant and
at others harmonious, blending monody and polyphony, this musical journey explores themes of individual freedom and the power of unified voices moving forwards together. Through the counterpoint of different ideas and themes, the work represents a coming together of East and West, an exploration of where one ends and the other begins. Initially rooted in ritual and tradition, it breaks away to celebrate a new freedom in which ‘everything is allowed’. Distinct fragments collide and merge into each other. Constantly searching and seeking resolution, the work builds up to a triumphant climax, a powerful alchemy of voices resounding through the darkness. The eternal questions of where we come from and where we are going are central. But in order to answer such questions, the work suggests, tradition must be shattered so that a new conversation, in which all can partake, may yield the answers we seek. www.tafahum.org
This event is supported by Amal – A Said Foundation Project
Amal provides opportunities for people in Britain, regardless of their faith or beliefs, to come together and explore the rich diversity of Muslim cultures and arts including storytelling, visual arts, theatre, poetry, music, dance and film. It believes that culture and the arts broaden horizons and forge common ground within and between communities. Amal facilitates experiences, encounters and discoveries that help to address the complex and critical issues facing our communities today in an inclusive atmosphere of creative expression and mutual respect. Through its varied activities, it hopes to achieve a deeper and broader understanding of Muslim cultures, thereby adding to the strength and vitality of contemporary British society.
www.amal.org.uk
For more information and images contact:
Gingko
Clare Roberts E: [email protected] T: 0203 6379730
Tafahum
Benjamin Ellin E: [email protected] T: 07866 765600
A New Divan is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England
