ROMANCES
Frontier music for the reconciliation of civilisations
Fahmi Alqhai, viola da gamba & direction
Ghalia Benali, singer
Quiteria Muñoz, soprano
Dani de Morón, flamenco guitar
Kiya Tabassian, setar
ACCADEMIA DEL PIACERE
Johanna Rose, viola da gamba
Rami Alqhai, viola da gamba
Agustín Diassera, percussion
Francisco Javier Núñez, positive organ
Programme
ROMANCES
Between the East and the West
“He saw the lightning in the east and longed for the east;
but if it had flashed in the west he would have longed for the west.
My desire is for the lightning and its gleam, not for the places and the earth.”
Mawwall – Da pacem, Domine – Egyptian traditional – Gregorian chant
La Spagna – Anonymous (15th c.)
Di, perra mora – Pedro Guerrero (16th century)
Jácara & Bulería – Fahmi Alqhai & Dani de Morón
Romance de la pérdida de Alhama: Paseávase el rey moro – Luis de Narváez (c. 1500 – c. 1555) – Fahmi Alqhai
Qué es de ti, desconsolado – Juan del Encina (1468 – c. 1529)
Buzurg, Al’anbia’ [The Prophets] – Pasacalle – Ghalia Benali & Kiya Tabassian & Fahmi Alqhai
Emsk Dumuak [Hold Back Your Tears] – Ghalia Benali & Fahmi Alqhai
Soleares – Dani de Morón
Romance De Antequera sale el moro – Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500-1553) – Miguel de Fuenllana (c. 1500 – 1579)
Din al Hob [The Religion of Love]-Da Pacem – Traditional – Gregorian chant
Arrangements and adaptations: Fahmi Alqhai and Ghalia Benali
Officially expelled, the last Moriscos, thrown into the melting pot of marginalisation alongside Gitanos and itinerant wanderers, passed on their melismas to Andalusian music. Let us listen as these kindred artistic traditions come together once more, their voices joining today to become our own music, alive and vibrant.
Programme notes
This show was presented at the Royal Alcázar of Seville as part of the Noches de Euterpe 2024 series. This historic palace, with its Mudéjar courtyards, arches and gardens, offers a unique setting that combines architectural beauty and fine acoustics for enjoying Baroque and Renaissance music.
With the expulsion of the last Moriscos from the Alpujarra – distant heirs of the very first Muslims to settle in Granada – Andalusi song might seem to have been condemned to survive only in the memory of the exiles. But the official victory, with its inevitable flip side of defeat and humiliation, could not prevent Morisco musical art from seeping into Andalusian folklore. Mixed in the melting pot of marginalisation with Gitanos and wanderers of every kind, the last Moriscos bequeathed their melismas to our musical DNA: that unmistakable way of vocalising which, whatever the musicological evidence, makes any Andalusian turn their head on hearing the muezzin’s call.
Fahmi Alqhai, Ghalia Benali, Kiya Tabassian and Dani de Morón, illustrious heirs of the Arab and flamenco traditions, today unite the voices of those ancestral artistic relatives, atavistic memories of a remote past that spans time and distance.
