Areej
Music from India and the Arab World
“I have become you, and you me; I the body, you the soul.”
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This couplet is attributed to Amir Khusrau, poet and musician of medieval Delhi, in whom India and the Persian world recognise themselves. It is this ancient kinship that Areej – Arabic for “fragrance” – rekindles. Based in Luxembourg, the ensemble brings together six musicians from the Arab-Turkish and Indian classical traditions, each with their own ornaments, modes, and musical language. No skin-deep fusion here: at times maqam and raga answer one another, at times each repertoire rings out undiluted – and it is in improvisation, the beating heart of both legacies, that the six voices find their accord.
