The Institute of Arab Culture in Milan celebrates the music of the peoples of the Mediterranean
Milan, December 3, 2017 – The Arab Cultural Institute at the Catholic University of Milan organized today a special academic musical day to explore Maqam music in the Mediterranean basin as one of the deepest cultural bridges that united the peoples of the region over four thousand years, in order to present to the public a unique model that combines scientific research and live artistic presentation in one context.
The event began with an academic symposium presented by Professor Enrico Redgiani from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and Professor Nidaa Abu Murad from the Sorbonne University – Paris, moderated by Professor Wael Farouk, Director of the Arab Cultural Institute.
Professor Farouk pointed out that Mediterranean culture is our common language, and each people has its own dialect. The speakers, supported by live musical performances, addressed the maqamat structure and its transformations over time, stressing that music – just like language – carries the common memory of the Mediterranean and embodies its unity despite the diversity of its cultures and civilizational dialects.
The event included a concert of Maqam music held in the historic Great Hall of the Catholic University. The concert presented a musical journey through seven stages, each representing a historical era and a region of the Mediterranean, from the oldest known melody in the world engraved on a tablet from Ugarit (Syria) to ancient Greece to the medieval Christian hymns in the Syriac, Coptic and Byzantine churches, then to Latin Gregorian chant, to the works of Safi al-Din al-Armawi, the great music theorist of the Abbasid era, and finally to Sufi poetry by Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi.
The Arab Cultural Institute, which was launched by the Sharjah Book Authority in 2024, is considered the first of its kind for Arab culture in Italy, as an international Emirati initiative launched from Sharjah in a number of countries around the world, including the establishment of a series of institutes for Arab culture in the capitals of knowledge and creativity, with the aim of building bridges of communication and dialogue, strengthening cultural relations between Arab and Western civilization, and demonstrating the extent of the Arab contribution to human scientific and creative production.
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