French, Moroccan festivals to host Nur ensemble
Art Desk
The Nur ensemble performs in an undated photo.
TEHRAN — The Nur ensemble led by Iranian musician Christophe Rezaei will give performances in two music festivals in Morocco and France.
The ensemble will be performing at the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco on June 12.
With the theme of “Re-Chanting the World”, this edition of the festival will pay tribute to the Persian poet Omar Khayyam.
Moroccan singers Rabbi Haim Louk and Abderahim Souiri-Cherifa will accompany the ensemble during the concert entitled “Night in the Medina 2”.
The ensemble will also attend the Oriental Music Festival, which will be held from June 27 to July 1 in Saint Florent, France.
“The Oriental Music Festival is held with the theme of ‘River’ and I am personally interested in thematic festivals,” Rezaei told to the Persian service of ISNA on Wednesday.
He said that they have arranged a wide repertoire of Oriental and Western medieval music for the festivals.
The pieces are mostly based on simple melodies, which have been composed in 13th and 14th centuries in France and Spain, Rezaei added.
Rezaei said that Nur is also scheduled to hold concerts in upcoming autumn in Tehran. It also plans to release a new album until March 2013, he added.
The ensemble will also give a performance at Notre-Dame du Taur Church in Toulouse, France, on June 22.
“It moves between sacred Occidental polyphonies to the declamation of mystical Persian song,” Fes Festival organizers said about Nur in their website.
Founded in 2000, the ensemble is composed of nine French and Persian singers and musicians. The main aim of the group is to combine the Iranian musical tradition and European musical tradition and to give new interpretations of traditional Persian, Kurdish and European music.
