The Ali Ufki Sacred Music Project is an ongoing series of interactive programs of music and conversation which aims to foster awareness, deepen dialogue, and celebrate commonalities among the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. The inspiration for these programs is the life and work of Ali Ufki, born Wojceich Bobowski, a Polish convert to Islam, a musician and respected member of the Ottoman court, and the translator of the Bible into Turkish, who lived in the cosmopolitan environment of seventeenth century Istanbul. A collaborative concert entitled " Ali Ufki¹nin Mezmurlarž / The Psalms of Ali Ufki", with a repertoire of sacred music based on the Psalms in the Protestant, Muslim Sufi, Greek Orthodox, and Jewish traditions, was first given at St. Paul¹s Episcopal Church in Brookline in the spring of 2004, and again at Harvard¹s Fogg Art Museum in the spring of 2005 and Temple Beth Zion in Brookline in the winter of 2005. A new
DÜNYA CD of this program, with an ensemble of 20 singers and instrumentalists and a booklet of texts, translations and notes will be released this season. Funding is now being sought for a multi media DVD version of the program which would incorporate performance, narrative, historical documents, interviews and other educational materials, all exploring the historical interaction of the three monotheistic faiths in the Ottoman capital between the 17th and 20th centuries.
DÜNYA is actively seeking collaboration with churches, synagogues, mosques, universities and schools as it continues its concert-seminars this spring. The presentations will begin with performance and end with open discussion of interfaith issues, often with a particular focus on one aspect of the Ali Ufki program. Topics led by a visiting expert will include "The Jewish Maftirim Choirs of Edirne and Istanbul", "The Geneva-Istanbul Connection in Ali Ufki¹s Psalm Collection", "The Judeo-Sufi Connection", "Greek Orthodox Music in Muslim Istanbul". Congregations and community groups interested in sponsoring a program of this kind should contact the project¹s co-producers, Mehmet Ali Sanlžkol ( msanlikol@dunyainc.org ), Robert Labaree (
rlabaree@dunyainc.org ) or Noam Sender ( nsender@styr.com ).
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