The June session of Cátedra Al-Andalus, with a format more in keeping with the summer period, presents the conference-concert by Emilio Villalba and Sara Marina, researchers and performers of Andalusian music, which will take place on 25 June, the last Thursday of each month, as usual.
The conference-concert will take place in a very entertaining way, interspersed with history, legends, instrument building techniques and a mini-exhibition of medieval instruments: lute, psalteries, harp, violas, rabeles, tambourines, darboukas, among others. These instruments belong to the private collection of the performers and are currently used in their concerts all over the Iberian Peninsula.
In the 13th century, the famous Cordovan poet Alsaqundi, in his book 'La Rissala', dedicated to praising the art and culture of al-Andalus, described a series of musical instruments: the oud, the psaltery, the rabab, the duff, the rabel and the dumbe. Until recently, these instruments were forgotten and disappeared.
Thanks to the work of researchers, musicologists and luthiers, we can rescue them from oblivion and bring them back to life, showing their role in Andalusian music, which must have its own voice, its own sound. It is therefore a question of enjoying once again the experience of performing the music composed by our ancestors, feeling the emotion of listening to a nuba, a zéjel, a moaxaja... In short, preserving and sharing a legacy that it has been possible to recover in very recent times.
Emilio Villalba has specialised throughout his musical career in the performance and study of ancient stringed instruments. In his concerts, we can hear him playing plucked string instruments such as the Arabic oud, the medieval guitar, the Turkish saz, the harp or the psaltery; plucked string instruments such as the hurdy-gurdy, the rabel or the medieval viola; and plucked string instruments such as the santur. He is also an illustrator of books, video games and interactive apps for children.
Sara Marina is a pianist and researcher of traditional percussion instruments such as the duff, riq, square tambourine, darbouka and bodhram. She is also a player of medieval keyboard instruments: clavisimbalum, organetto and harpsichord. She is a textile craftswoman and designs bags and backpacks with a medieval and musical theme.
The duo is carrying out an interesting work of recovery and dissemination of medieval art and music, not only in their concerts, but also in the development of educational workshops, exhibitions of instruments, children's games, textile accessories, plates, books, etc. All this in an effort to disseminate and bring the medieval world closer to all audiences.
Free admission until full capacity is reached.
Portuguese