My Heart is in the East  – An Evening of Sephardic & Persian Music

Performed by the Judith Mok Hamsa Ensemble – featuring Judith Mok (soprano), Javid Afsari Rad (santour), Nick Roth (sax), Oleg Ponomarev (violin), Cora Venus Lunny (viola), Francesco Turissi (percussion & keyboard) and Simon Jermyn (guitars)

Smock Alley Theatre, 8 Exchange St Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 8

(Formerly known as SS Michael And John. The entrance is located on Lower Exchange Street -just off Parliament Street).            8pm            €20 / 15           

The great 11th century Spanish-Jewish poet Judah Halevi wrote:  ‘My Heart is in the East but I am in the West’, a statement reflective of the bountiful cross-fertilisation of Jewish and Arabic culture that flourished in medieval Spain prior to the Christian re-conquest which led to the ultimate expulsion of the Jews from Spain.

In exile from their beloved Sepharad (Spain), the Spanish Jews took with them the romances and ballads of their adopted land. As they settled in North Africa, Turkey, the Balkans and the Holy Land, this music of loss and longing absorbed local musical influences to produce the rich variety of Sephardic music known today.

For some years now, Dutch soprano Judith Mok (herself of Sephardic descent), has been exploring this unique musical heritage. She will be joined by Javid Afsari Rad, one of the worlds leading exponents of Persian music and of its special instrument, the Santour, a hammered dulcimer which has been played in Persia for thousands of years, and is viewed as the ancestor of our Western piano.

This promises to be a unique evening, bringing together widely different styles of music from Jewish and Islamic cultures in a spirit of harmony and celebration.The Judith Mok Hamsa Ensemble is grateful to the Norwegian Embassy and Royal Netherlands Embassy for their generous support.