The Romanian Cultural Institute will organize in the following period, March-December 2011, a series of musical encounters gathered underneath the banner "When we were the Byzantium", with the announced participation of various artists coming from abroad alongside very talented Romanian artists committed to promoting the authentic old Romanian music. Such assemblies and bands will illustrate Dimitrie Cantemir's music together with the works of other Romanian composers that conducted their work before and after the creation of the independent modern state. Among our announced guests we can name the following bands: the Romanian Old Music Ensemble Anton Pann, conducted by Constatin Răileanu, who will also be the host of the events, En Chordais (Greece), Anatolia and Bezmârâ (Turkey) and Constantinople (Iran). During each of the eight future meetings, we shall have musical assemblies, each time with a different line-up and a pre-established repertoire. In order to reconstruct the atmosphere of those precious times, we shall have performances based upon old musical instruments, accompanied by interventions of different story-tellers that will entertain us with anecdotes and brief fragments of history related to particular songs.
The reasoning behind this series of lessons presented in front of an audience is based upon a number of sources, among which we can name the total confusion spread by different television channels (and shows) that claim themselves as the "true" promoters of authentic culture. We propose a response to these "threats" by organizing a series of lectures, followed by live performances, built upon the model provided by the Young People's Concerts, a series of televised concerts of the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
PROGRAM
March 31, 7.30 p.m. / Travelling to the Gates of the Orient – Pages of voiced history
Musical illustration provided by the Romanian Old Music Ensemble Anton Pann
@ the Romanian Cultural Institute (38 Aleea Alexandru, Bucharest) - focuses upon the Romanian music
- it concerns the cultural relations established between the Romanian Countries (later on known as the Romanian Principalities) and the Oriental world
- the Romanian space torn between "doină" and "manea"
- (Communist)"Party" folklore – during the Communist Era
- recovering the authentic musical values that originated in the Oriental space
May 11 / Byzantium after Byzantium (Byzantium following the Byzantines)
Musical Illustration provided by the Greek musical ensemble En Chordais - Kyriakos Petras (violin), Kyriakos Kalaitzidis (oud), Drosos Koutsokostas (vocal), Vasilios (Alkis) Zopoglou (qanun), Petros Papgergiou (percussion)
@ the Romanian Cultural Institute (38 Aleea Alexandru, Bucharest) - it regards the Byzantine cultural space
- the Byzantine music and its beneficial role as a catalyst in the spreading and maintaining of the Eastern Christendom
- secular music in the Byzantine and post-Byzantine space
- the Romanian Schools of Studying the chanting of the Psalm Books (Psaltichie)
- collection of lay chants coming from the post-Byzantine space
- the continuity of the Byzantine culture assured by the Romanian Countries
June 24 / Musical stories
Musical Illustration provided by the the Romanian Old Music Ensemble Anton Pann
@ the Romanian Cultural Institute (38 Aleea Alexandru, Bucharest) - evocative pieces originated in valuable Romanian musical collections
- musical illustration provided by the Romanian Old Music Ensemble Anton Pann
July 22 / Guests at the great Voivodal Courts – Romanian composers from the XVII up to the XIX century
Musical illustration provided by the Romanian Old Music Ensemble Anton Pann
@ Reduta Cultural Centre, Brasov - a short history of the Old Romanian music will be brought to light
- musical illustration provided by the Romanian Old Music Ensemble Anton Pann
- significant figures of the Romanian musical landscape : Ioan Căianu, Dimitrie Cantemir, Anton Pann, George Ucenescu
- Braşov (Germ. Kronstadt, Hungarian Brassó) – Culturally charged city and confluence point between the East and the West
- Voivodal Romanian Courts – where the folks' music and that of the rafined boyars met
September 29 / Dimitrie Cantemir's Age
Musical illustration provided by the Turkish band Bezmârâ - Fikret Karakaya (cheng, vocal), Kemal Caba (kemençe), Kâmil Bilgin (daire, nakkare), İhsan Özer (santur), Adem Tosunoğlu (lăută, tambur), Nurullah Kanık (caval), Akgün Çöl (shehrud), Bekir Baloğlu (oud), Serap Çağlayan (kanun), Ersin Çelik (vocal).
@ the Romanian Cultural Institute (38 Aleea Alexandru, Bucharest) - The Ottoman Court and the Romanian Countries/ Principalities
- common points of the Ottoman and the Byzantine music
- Romanian themes encountered in the Ottoman music
- Dimitrie Cantemir and his significant role within the Oriental musical historiography
- Cantemir's Age as reflected through the cultural and artistic life in Constantinople
- Evoking the "pestrefuri and the taksîm-uri" (pestref represented a prelude/short piece of music in the Oriental space; and taksîm represented a musical improvisation)
- The Book of the Knowledge of Music (Kitab-i-musiki)
October 28 / Aegean and Balkan dances
Musical illustration provided by the Turkish ensemble Anatolia - Neva Özgen (kemençe), Hakan Şensoy (violin), Mehmet Bitmez (ud), Yelda Özgen Öztürk (cello), Tolgahan Çoğulu (guitar), Güray Cantürk (percussion).
@ the Romanian Cultural Institute (Aleea Alexandru 38) - The Ottoman music
November 18 / The Persian Dīvān
Musical illustration provided by the Iranian music ensemble Constantinople - Kiya Tabassian (sétar, vocal), Ziya Tabassian (percussion), Siamak Aghaie (santur, vocal), Pierre-Yves Martel (viola da gamba), Didem Basar (kanun), Kiriakos Kalaitzides (oud)
@ the Romanian Cultural Institute (38 Aleea Alexandru, Bucharest) - the role played by the Persian original music in the development of the following musical cultures
- Dimitrie Cantemir's seminal role in the separation of the Persian and the Tukish music
- Bringing into discussion of treaties regarding musical theory
- Anton Pann and the Persian music
December 4 / Between the East and the West – In defense of the beginnings
Musical Illustration provided by the Romanian Old Music Ensemble Anton Pann and Kyriakos Kalaitzidis, Kyia Tabassian, Neva Őzgen, Fikret Karakaya
@ the Romanian Radio House (60-64 General Berthelot Blvd., Bucharest) - We were also part of Byzantium
- Who were our musicians?
- Musical influences and confluences within the Romanian geographical space/borders
- The daily encountered "manea"
- The XIX century – departing from "fez" or "taboosh" and going towards the "topper" (also known as the "top hat" in Britain or in French "chapeau en soie")
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