Chœur de l’Opéra de Dijon | Zourouni, chansons de l’Andalousie au Liban

As part of the Festival Les Nuits d'Orients

After discovering the poems of love and praise that are the Mouachah last season, Anass Ismat takes the Dijon Opera Choir on a new poetic exploration, where the two rivers of oriental melody and western polyphony converge.

The extreme vocal and instrumental refinement of the Arab-Andalusian heritage, already magnified in last season's Nuits d'Orient concert entitled Mouachah, is the subject of a new exceptional evening. A symbol of syncretism, mutual tolerance between cultures and the cross-fertilisation of traditions, medieval El-Andalus is a veritable humanist and spiritual treasure trove. Soprano Hasnaa Bennani, accompanied by the Dijon Opera Choir conducted by Anass Ismat, explores the gems of its repertoire, as well as its modern musical heritage. To the spellbinding sound of the qanoun (table zither), the nay (reed flute), the oud (lute) and the virtuoso percussionists, it's easy to get carried away by the strains of Zourouni, a song in which Fayrouz, the great Lebanese artist, evokes the fear of being forgotten by love, or by the melodies of Sabah Fakhri, who died in 2021, whose name alone symbolises the richness of Arabic song and the traditional Syrian repertoire.