FALL 2011

A SPECIAL CD RELEASE CONCERT

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This exciting concert will celebrate the release of DÜNYA’s A Story of the City: Constantinople, Istanbul double CD which is currently submitted for a Grammy award. The concert will bring together several DÜNYA ensembles to perform upbeat selections from the CD program including Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Sephardic Jewish and Ottoman music.

Come and join us celebrate!

Location: First Church in Cambridge
Date/Time: Saturday, October 1, 8:00pm


MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE

This exciting event brings together the talents of DÜNYA and two other musical groups from each of the three Abrahamic traditions for an afternoon of celebration and song through Christian gospel songs, Sufi melodies, and Jewish music.

Location: Congregation Shirat Hayam, 55 Atlantic Avenue, Swampscott, MA
Date/Time: Sunday, October 23, 3-5:00pm

 

PLAYING FOR THE PLANET: World Strings Against Climate Change

DÜNYA performs along with South Indian music and classical guitar music. Proceeds of the event will benefit the environmental advocacy group 350.org. Great music for a great cause.

Location: Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, Boston, MA
Date/Time: Friday, November 11, 7pm

 

TWO SACRED MUSIC TRADITIONS FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN: Syriac and Greek Orthodox Christianity, a Comparison

This program offers a rare opportunity to hear practitioners of the music of Eastern Christianity, rarely heard by Americans who are not members of the Syriac and Greek Orthodox Churches. Syriac Orthodoxy uses the oldest surviving liturgy in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus and the language of much of the Talmud. Greek Orthodoxy uses liturgical forms and texts that date back to the first century A.D. and was the official religion of the Byzantine empire which dominated the eastern Mediterranean from the 4th through the 15th centuries.

Two expert cantors will explore, through performance and dialogue, the shared musical language and the unique musical traits of the Syriac and Greek Orthodox traditions. Gabriel Aydın representing Syriac Orthodoxy and Menios Karanos representing Greek Orthodoxy will be joined by Dr. Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, who will act as a moderator of this lecture-performance.

Location: Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Maliotis Cultural Center, Dukakis Wing
Date/Time: Thursday, November 17, 2011, 3pm

Location: New England Conservatory, Pierce Hall
Date/Time: Friday, November 18, 2011, Noon

 

An Intimate Evening of 17th Century Ottoman Music

Ali Ufki, born Albert Bobowski in 1610, was a Polish Christian who converted to Islam after his capture by the Ottoman Turks and spent the remainder of his life in Istanbul, becoming renowned as a court musician, as a notator of Ottoman classical music, and as a Bible translator. This intimate concert of 17th century Ottoman music is mostly based on repertoire Ali Ufki collected in a unique manuscript—the famous Mecmua-i Sazı Söz of 1650—which preserved for modern times about a thousand songs and instrumental pieces, the first instance in which western staff notation was applied to Turkish music. Come to this one of a kind event to hear a special program of early Ottoman court, Sufi and entertainment music, performed by the DÜNYA ensemble with translations and projections of the Ali Ufki manuscript.

Location: AIC Center, 38 Newbury St. Suite 702 (7th Floor)
Date/Time: Saturday, December 10, 7pm
Price of admission: General: $15, Students/seniors: $10

 

 

SPRING 2011

JEWS AND SUFIS: A Shared Musical Tradition
with Edwin Seroussi

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Since at least the 16th century, the Turkish maftirim repertoire–Hebrew devotional poetry set to Turkish makam music for use in the synagogue–demonstrates the deep relationships Ottoman Jews established with members of Muslim mystical brotherhoods. Leading scholar, Prof. Edwin Seroussi in a panel of three will speak on cultural, historical, religious and musical aspects of the topic, followed by dialogue with the audience.

The program will conclude with a lively recital featuring an ensemble of Jewish, Muslim and Christian vocalists and instrumentalists demonstrating examples of relevant musical repertoire.

Location: Congregation Beth El of the Sudbury River Valley
Date/Time: Monday, January 17, 2011, 7:30pm
Location: Turkish Cultural Center Boston
Date/Time: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 6:30pm
Location: Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lynn
Date/Time: Sunday, February 6, 2011, 2pm
Location: Boston University, Hillel House
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 5:30pm

 

İki Cihan Arasında / Between Two Worlds:
An Ottoman Musical Tapestry

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Folk, classical, religious and popular music of the Ottoman/Turkish tradition, interwoven with classical Ottoman music newly transcribed from 19th century Greek sources, Bektaşi Sufi music, Turkish-Jewish maftirim pieces in Hebrew based on Sufi music, and newly-composed polyphonic makam compositions.

Location: Stonehill College photos
Date/Time: Monday, March 7, 2011, 7pm
Location: Mariposa Museum and World Culture Center
Date/Time: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 7pm
Location: Harvard University, Busch Hall
Date/Time: Friday, March 25, 2011, 8pm
Location: New England Conservatory, Brown Hall photos
Date/Time: Monday, March 28, 2011, 8pm