Music inspired by Rumi: RUMI MEETS JOBIM
RUMI MEETS JOBIM
Franklin Abbott will be performing as part of the Poetry at Callanwolde series.
Come a little early and wander around the grounds of this grand old house. At 7:30 I will be singing songs from my album Don't Go Back To Sleep. The Rumi songs are the heart of the album. I wrote them at a songwriting workshop with Si Kahn at the Omega Institute half a lifetime ago after reading the first book of Coleman Barks' translations of Rumi, Open Secret. I carried them around in my heart for decades before recording them last year at 800 East with four fantastic jazz musicians, piano master Jez Graham who was my mentor, bass player Vlamir Abbud (of Rua 6), percussionist Emrah Kotan (who is now touring with Jennifer Holiday) and guitar and horn wizard Ken Gregory who was also the extraordinary recording engineer. The double CD which includes 14 original songs and 44 poems from my poetry collections came out about this time last year. This concert will be its first birthday party.
Through the agency of serendipity I am performing my Rumi songs this time with two of the best Brazilian musician n the world who happen to live in Atlanta. Sander Pinheiro is a virtuoso on the guitar and sings like Michael Jackson in Portuguese. Chocolate Costa is an extraordinary multi-instrumentalist who will play bass. I will sing the songs I created (with kind permission) from Coleman Barks whose marvelous translations reintroduced Rumi to the English speaking world and have made him our most popular poet.
Rumi was a Sufi mystic who lived in Konya in what is now modern Turkey in the 1200's. He is more popular than Shakespeare in the Persian-speaking world and the most revered poet in his native Afghanistan where he is called Balkhi after the town of Balkh where he was born and where is family fled after the invasion of Gengkhis Khan. Rumi was an exalted scholar of Islam when he met Shams of Tabriz, a wandering mystic and troublemaker, who opened his heart to the mystery of the universe. After meeting Shams, Rumi became a poet whose words are revered by millions eight centuries after his birth. Antonio Carlos Jobim was the master of Brazilian music who brought bossa nova to the world. What could go wrong when these two geniuses meet?
Poetry at Callanwolde asks a voluntary contribution to cover light refreshments. CD's will be on sale for $10. Parking is free. The house is grand and the gardens are lovely. Please join kindred spirits for an evening where anything might happen. Feel free to bring friends and family.
www.tenminutemuse.wordpress.com
links to music videos: https://tenminutemuse.wordpress.com/2017/06/29/the-old-rule/
Date: Thursday May 10, 2018
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Callanwolde Fine Arts Center: 980 Briarcliff Road, NE, Atlanta, GA 30306. 404-872-5338
FREE
Contact: https://callanwolde.freshtix.com/events/concert-by-poet-franklin-abbott
