Al Andaluz (or Al-Ándalus) is the name chosen by the Ummayad conquerors for the Iberian Peninsula. Moorish-governed Spain was not only famous for its tolerance and scholarship, but for prosperity, trade and flourishing arts as well. For many centuries, people with different religions - muslim, jewish and christian - lived together in peace and inspired each other. Philosophers, poets, artists and musicians were most welcome at the courts of occidental rulers like Alfonso X. "the Wise" of Castile, and made their artistic contribution to a unique merging of cultures.

Regardless of their religious denomination people were striving for philosophical, scientific and religious truths. Instead of being a problem, diversity and variety were highly appreciated. The Caliphate Córdoba featured nine hundred public baths (hamams), thousands of mosques, running water and well-lit streets. By the 11th century, Toledo had become the intellectual capital of Europe, a christian city where Arabic continued to be the language of culture and scholarship. It was via Toledo, with its schools of translation and its famous libraries, that the rest of Europe could gain access to the ancient writings. Closer studies of that age leave the impression, that the Middle Ages in Al Andaluz were anything but dark in many ways. Quite the contrary: never again has been achieved an equally unique religious and cultural merging.

The Al-Andaluz Project, in special line-up, wants to revive these special aspects of Al Andaluz for our today`s world. In dialogue with the old songs, with different linguistic and musical cultures, a new musical entity can come to life, a vision of tolerance, as the andalusian poet Ibn al-Arabi wrote in a poem:

 

My heart has been adopting manyfold appearances
It is the monastery for Christian monks
or the temple for idols
or the Ka´aba for the circle of pilgrims
or the tablets for the Tora
or the pages for the Koran
But wherever the caravan may bend its steps
Love is my religion.

 

The three singers of Al-Andaluz project:  Sigrid Housen, Iman Kandousi i Mara Aranda

 

The project 

 

The realization of that special idea is the history of the encounter of two music formations. Michael Popp, musical director of the group Estampie, well-known in the medieval music-scene for their innovation and quality, has never ceased to criticize publicly insubstantial academical parading of supposedly authentic performance or medieval ballyhoo and commerce. After one Estampie concert a visitor presented Michael with a recording and said: "This will probably find favour in your critical ears...". It was a record of the band L´Ham de Foc from Valencia (Spain) who have put a name on the map of world music with their typical mixture of mediterranean, oriental and medieval music. With a smaller by-project focussing on sephardic music, Amán Amán, the band was to guest just a few weeks later in Munich, Estampie´s homebase. Enthusiastic about the record, Michael Popp took the chance and proposed a mutual project to the Spanish musicians. It didn´t take long to find out that they were birds of a feather, like-minded in musical as well as in human views, and the project made quick progress during several visits to Valencia and Munich.

 During these highly productive and inspiring encounters, musical experience was exchanged and absolutely new ideas came up. The result of this co-operation, the „Al-Andaluz-Project“, was first released at 15. July 2006 on the occasion of the Landshuter Hofmusiktage. The live recording was broadcast by the Bayerischer Rundfunk. The by now available album was recorded in November 2006 at the medieval Dominican Monastery La Cartuja near Seville.

The encounter of the three „leading“ cultures of the Middle-Ages – muslim, jewish and christian – a topic as fascinating and controversal as ever - is reflected in the Al-Andaluz-Project by the origin of the involved musicians. Just recently violent-prone fundamentalist movements, whether religious or not, have taken centre stage of public debate. Unfortunately, the necessary basic knowledge of the matter is often fragmentary, this being due to a general ignorance of the historical context. And this in view of the incredible abundance of musical literature. In some regions this music has never ceased to be living tradition until today. Especially in the realm of music, the peaceful co-existence of the three great cultures lasted for centuries – a shining example for a mutually enriching and inspiring social life.

 

 

 

Albums

De deus et diabolous (Galileo-mc, 2008)

 

      

 

 

Al-Maraya (Galileo-mc, 2009)

 

 

 

 

Photos

Al-Andaluz on the German tour

                                          

                                         

      Regensburg_07_05_2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8_05_2010_kiel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bremen 10_05_2010
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bochum, 11_05_2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bielefeld_12_05_10

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hannover_13_05_2010

 

Drübeck_15_05_2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dresden_16_05_2010
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 End of the Al-Andaluz Diary on the German tour.

 

 

Rehersals for the recording of  "De deus et diabolus"

Mas de Flors, Castelló

 

 

Recording of the album "De deus et diabolous" at the Cartuja of Cazalla de la Sierra (Sevilla), novembre 2006

 

El Tirol

 

15 de july 2006,  festival Hofmusiktage, Landshut (Germany)

 

29,30 de july 2006, Kassel

 

Bern (Switzerland)

 

Autum's tour, Germany 

 

may 2008, Canovelles (Barcelona)

 

 Wiesbaden,  Germany

    August, 2008, Bregenz

 

            Poland 

March 2008,  Sevilla.

Rehersals for the recording of Al-Maraya

 

April 2009, Chiclana, Cádiz

 

 

Cançons de la Mediterrània 09, Palma de Mallorca

 

 

Rehersals for the recording of Al-Maraya, August 2009, Illora (Granada)

 

 

 Varsaw, Poland; Cross Culture festival.

 

Cross Culture Festival  Varsaw, Poland.

Photos: Tomasz Woydir

 

Recording of Al Maraya ,  Munich  decembre 2009

  

 

Press

 

 

Al Andaluz Project (Ritmos Étnicos)

The Al Andaluz Project unites L'Ham de Foc with Estampie, the Munich group led by Michael Popp, better known for its dedication to medieval music. Beginning with informal collaboration based on mutual interest in older repertoires, the ensembles first shared the stage at the July 2006 Landshut Hofmusiktage festival, a performance recorded and broadcast live by Bavarian state radio. As heard on Deus et Diabolus, they followed with a November 2006 studio session at the Dominican monastery of La Cartuja de Cazalla, near Sevilla. In the spirit of Moorish Iberia, three superb female singers interpret medieval Sephardic, Arabic, and Christian traditions: Sigrid Hausen (who also plays flute), L'Ham de Foc's Mara Aranda, and Iman al Kandoussi, singing variously in Ladino, Spanish, and Arabic. Estampie's Popp (ud, saz, violin, production), Ernst Schwindl (hurdy gurdy, nyckelharpa), and Sascha Gotowtshikow (percussion) join L'Ham's Efrén López (ud, saz, rabab, hurdy gurdy, production), Aziz Samsaoui (quanun), and Diego López (percussion). Contrast the lively drone and glorious vocal harmonies of the Christian song "A virgen mui groriosa" (one of three songs dedicated to Santa María) with the driving call-and-response of Arabic-Andalusian songs like "Nassam alaina lhawa" for a sense of this recording's enchanting range. Notes are in Spanish, German, and English. -

 

 Michael Stone

 

 

 

 

Songlines magazine, June 2008 issue (#52)
The bewitching Deus et Diabolus (God and the Devil) threads together the voices of three women: Mara Aranda, from Valencia's L'Ham de Foc; Sigrid Hausen, from Munich's medieval music group Estampie; and Iman al Kandoussi. They are accompanied by a lively ensemble of flutes, qanun, ud, saz, rabab, fiddle, nyckelharpa, hurdy-gurdy, pandera tambourines and percussion. It's an inspiring encounter between the talented musicians of L'Ham de Foc and Estampie recorded in the old Cartuja Monastery, Cazalla de la Sierra, Seville. This is sprightly music, fusing Mediterranean, Oriental and medieval moods. The ethos underpinning their reinterpretations of Arab, Jewish and Christian cantigas to the Virgin Mary, their reimaginings of sensual dances and Arabic songs, is expressed by a line from poet Ibn al-Arabi, `Wherever the caravan may bend its steps/Love is my religion'.

 While each exquisite piece speaks for itself, they flow together like a song cycle embedded in a utopian view of the past as one of dialogue and peaceful co-existence between religious cultures. The 13th-century `Cantiga de Santa María' is just one breathtaking moment, transporting in the way the timbres and textures of voices and instruments interweave. The arrangements for each of the 12 songs are stunningly varied, each `voice' jewel like, distinctly within the fabric of pieces.

 Frustratingly, the attractive booklet (in German, Spanish and English) offering general background and interspersing songs texts in Arabic and old Spanish, with seductive photos of the three women and Seville's Arabic Baths, fails to include the vivid `story' detail that would help reference the individual songs that capture attention. Still, it's a brilliant disc nonetheless.
 

 

 

 

Al Andaluz Project is a fascinating collaboration between Spanish world & traditional folk group, L'Ham de Foc and German medieval music ensemble, Estampie - that has already received high praise in the European press. Their album "Deus Et Diabolus" focuses on the musical landscape of Moorish medieval Spain - when Christian, Muslim and Sephardic-Jewish peoples were successfully interacting - with tolerance, scholarship, the arts, trade and prosperity all flourishing in a multi-cultural society. There is a breathtaking richness of virtuosity and instrumentation including oud, saz, fiddle, organistrum, zanfona, hurdy-gurdy, nyckelharp, rabab, qanun, etc & assorted percussion. played by virtuoso musicians Efren López, Michael Popp, Ernst Schwindl, Aziz Samsaoui, Sascha Gotowtschikow and Diego López - as well as the three exceptional vocalists : Sigrid Hausen, Mara Aranda and Iman al Kandoussi.

 

Demnagirl , "Passionate Music"