Scripps college music7/5/2023 They fly through the Seven Valleys, described through nearly 5,000 couplets of poetry. Using embedded narratives, a common feature of medieval Islamic writing, the poem describes the journey of birds seeking their king, Simurgh. “The Conference of the Birds,” widely considered one of Attar’s greatest works, is an allegorical story about the soul’s search for purpose and purification. According to legend, Attar held Rumi in his arms and predicted his greatness as Rumi’s family fled from Mongol invasions in the 12th century. Rumi, often called “ the most popular poet in the United States ,” considered Attar a master of Sufi mystic poetry and a major influence on his work. Wolpé is not the only person transformed by Attar’s work. “It had changed my life in a profound way, and I wanted to bring it to as many people as possible.” “Even though the book was published in 2017 … I knew I was not yet done with this powerful text,” Wolpé wrote in the program notes. ” Wolpé, an award-winning poet and translator of Iranian origin, collaborated with director and choreographer André Megerdichian and composer Fahad Siadat to adapt her book into a performance. The performance is an adaptation of Sholeh Wolpé’s 2017 translation of Attar of Nishapur’s famous poem “ Mantiq al-tayr, ” or “The Conference of the Birds. Based on a 12th century Sufi poem, the performance debuted at the Garrison Theater on March 27 and 28. “The Conference of the Birds” defies the conventions of a traditional oratorio - the conductor sings, the soloists dance and the choir doubles as an orchestra. Joslyn Sarshad sings as Hoopoe, the wisest of the birds and the lead vocal role, during the March 27 performance of “The Conference of the Birds.” (Nanako Noda
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