Arabic Music with the Orchestra of Light

“Ferket El Anwar”, which in Arabic means an orchestra of light, is an orchestra founded in 2016 in Athens and performs traditional, classical and contemporary Arabic music from the Near and Middle East countries in compositions dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The orchestras of this type, which in Arabic are called “takht”, existed since the 18th century and were, as we would say, the orchestras of the classical oriental music. The repertoire of the orchestra includes the traditional song that features songs from local Arab folk dances, such as “Dabke” and “Dalaouna” from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, “Chobi” from Iraq, “Khaleeji” from the countries the Arabian Peninsula, “Fellahi” and “Saidi” from Egypt and “Maghrabi” from Morocco. The classical repertoire presents improvisations and compositions in forms formed from the early Islamic era of the 8th century to the later Ottoman times of the 19th century, such as Muwashahat, Taqasim, Samai, Tahmilah, Dolap and Longa. Finally, from the repertoire, it would be impossible to miss major works by contemporary prominent composers and performers of the 20th century, such as Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Oum Kalthoum, Farid el Atrash, Sabah Fakhri, Fairuz and many others. Melodies and poetry lead the ensemble of musicians and listeners to the "tarab", the mental euphoria and spiritual clarity that one feels when listening to these sounds, in other words, the sacred ecstasy from music, as the Persian philosopher of the 11th-12th century, Al-Ghazali says....more