The First Persian Music Tour (Sufi) in Romania

A group of enthusiast artists is organizing in Romania the first tour on Persian classical music (Sufi). Two artists from the Sufi movement in Iran will share to the Romanian audience the treasures of Persian maqams (equivalent of raga in perso-arabic music) in works composed on the realized poets verses: Rumi and Hafez.

The tour includes not only concerts, but also a Persian classical music workshop held in National Music University Bucharest, a conference about Persian Sufi poets and a gala concert with savant monody music: Persian, Indian, Byzantine, and Romanian Traditional.  

Artists:

Maestro Saeed Dadkhah: Setar and voice (Iran)

Hossein Sanaei: Violin, Kamancheh (Iran)

Avadhut Kasinadhuni (India) -tablaSorin Bundă (Romania) - tabla

Guest artists:

Anne Marie Ene - Indian violin

Ioan Marin - voice (Romanian traditional music)

Cantores Ecclesiae Byzantine music group

Program:

Brasov Philharmonic 11th January 2017

Ploiesti Philharmonic: 13th January 2017

St. Joseph Cathedral Bucharest: 14th January 2017 – International Gala Concert

 „Mihail Jora” Bacău Philharmonic – 16th January 2017

Oneşti City Library: 17th January 2017

Focşani Popular Athenaeum: 18th January 2017

Romanian Athenaeum: 21st January 2017
Cluj Napoca Radio: 25th and 27th January 2017
Cotton Club Cluj: 26th of January 2017

Workshop under the brand of Brailoiu Conferences

National Music University Bucharest: 20th January 2017
Music Academy Cluj Napoca: 26th January 2017

We are looking for sponsors. Donations here:

Asociatia culturala "Nirmal Art", IBAN: RO65BTRLRONCRT0300219501 

account open at  Banca Transilvania  

Tomis - Constanta (Romania) and Kundalini

This city was founded in 600 B C, the city of Tomis went along history under Goth, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Romanian and Ottoman rule. Each of these culture left marks in the developing of the city, known nowadays as a major harbour to the Black Sea. More about Constanta here

We visited the city and some of the museums this summer. We started with the mosque, since it is the only local cultural element which reminds us of Asia and, why not, India. On the wall in the right side there was a strange thing happening. Due to humidity, the dampness of the wall created there a face. a portrait. we could identify it with the one of socrates, as it appears in sculptures.

                                                                  The "portrait"

Now it really reminded us of Istanbul!

 We visited also the Catholic church, which had a swastika on the tower. 

Just as this city should look like, generally

We loved the mosaics from the museum that seem to be an ancient Roman bath. It reminded me of the Mosaic Museum in Istanbul. 

The Hamangia Thinker, 5th millennium BC

We also visited the History museum and his temporary exhibition. We met the Thracian Cavalier, Cybele goddess (Greek-Roman Durga), or Greek Hecate triformis, which reminded us more about Hindu deities, with the 6 hands full of weapons.

Hecate triformisCybele goddess                                                                                

The Thracian rider     

 The most impressive meeting was with the Glycon Snake, deity of Macedonian origin which represents the Kundalini energy.

 More about it here. 

Also, we could visit the temporary exhibition, with gold pieces from the ancient times. 

    

                      

 The statue of Ovidius in the market was waiting for us.  

So, you are most welcome to Romania to visit these treasures, and also take a bath in the wonderful Black Sea.

In Vaasa, Finland

This summer I visited Vaasa, a town located in the Ostrobothnian Gulf in West Finland. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaasa. 

This area, at least has two official languages: Finnish and Swedish. It has only 58000 inhabitants and it is surrounded by many islands, which every year come out of the sea. It is an archipelago with a particular charm and beauty. Here the local people spend the summers in their cottages, located near the sea, perhaps on islands. As in all Northern countries, summers here are very bright and are blessed by the day light longer than anywhere else. I had many surprises, started from the very first day. The autistic hotel I lived, with everything online and electronic and no reception and person to talk to, the flowers I haven’t seen anywhere else, the gees and the rabbits that you could find just everywhere. In those days I was staying there, I met wonderful people, I experienced the local tradition of daily sauna and cold bath in sea after, I tasted various types of food, from home cooked to Egyptian and Thai. Of course, the greatest joy is to meet your sahaji brothers and sisters. I just felt home in the beautiful sahaj center, together with my family and we celebrated together Shri Krishna puja.  But, besides being pampered by my new friends there, also the nature fulfilled my dreams and wishes. Who doesn’t want to experiment seeing the Polar lights? Well, I saw them! It was a wonderful light show created by nature. And also, when I was playing myself with the angle, a caught a pike fish. To these I add the tour and the nice dinner offered by Kalle and Lena, their wonderful stories and jokes and the walks in the woods, searching for berries, mushrooms and rabbits. The only unfulfilled dream was to see a reindeer. Ok. Next time maybe!

The music is Toivo Kuula, Piano Trio Op. 7, 1st part. Toivo Kuula was born in Vaasa in 1883.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toivo_Kuula

Constantinopole - Chora Church

 Istanbul is a city that bears a history from the ancient time, going to the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of official Christianity and then falling under the Ottoman conquerors and establishing the Islamic era. The mix of work, tourism and spirituality was a very happy one in my case. I was there for a concert of George Enescu Philharmonic Choir together with Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra with opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini. This opera has the famous aria Casta Diva, which was often offered to Shri Mataji in musical programs. I succeeded in joining a sahaj program while I was there. I understood they are 100 yogis for a population of 14 millions, which is very little. But the Islamic propaganda is very aggressive this time. I remember that 20 years ago I haven’t seen many women wearing hijab. Now half of them do. Especially the young ones. And they look pretty arrogant too. Turkey is a laic state, though, due to Kemal Atatürk, a realized soul.

What I find very beautiful there is the mix of the Christian vestiges and the Islamic art. Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque situated on the two ends of a square are just a sample. While visiting Chora Church, which it is famous for her mosaics and fresco, I found out the canons of the representing the Holy Virgin and her mother in early Christianity. First of all, the pronaos of the church represents the whole life of the Holy Mother of Christ and we can see that She is equal important in that time with Jesus. The color for the Saint Anna (Mother of the Virgin) is pink (Shri Lakshmi), while the color of the Virgin’s clothes is blue (Shri Radha). Also, the Creation it is represented as a spiral (Kundalini) which has on her sides the Sun and the Moon. Enjoy the pictures!