The View from Fez is pleased to announce that theme of this year's Fes Festival of World Sacred Music is The Tree of Life.
Mohamed Kabbaj, Director of the Festival, explains:
"All traditions give importance to the symbolism of the tree. According to Ibn Arabi, the tree is the symbol of Man - above all in its universality (Kulliya) and identity (Mitliya). The tree of which Adam and Eve ate the fruit, is mentioned in the Koran as a 'Tree of Immortality' (Shajarat Al-Khuld). The tree is located, according to Genesis, in the middle of Paradise.
There are also several symbols of the tree in all religions. It is often compared to an Axis of the World, a link that connects Heaven and Earth. It is the distributor of the waters of immortality - the inexhaustible source of life itself."
The View from Fez can also announce the theme of the Fez Meetings (no longer called Encounters) to be held from 09h00 to 13h00 from 30 May to 3 June at the Batha Museum: Living between the Sacred and the Secular - The Force of Things and the Hand of God.
The programme reads:
"Our age is characterized as much by tremendous scientific progress as by a strong aspiration for the sacred.
To give meaning to his life, the post-modern man has to choose between both, or deal with both, in order to find a balance between materialism and spirituality.
This dialectic raises fundamental questions about our origin, our existenceand our individuality in a constantly changing world in which we have to adapt without denying our identity."
Programme:
May 30: The origin of the world: 'big bang' and divine explanations
May 31: The origin of man: creationism and evolutionism
June 1: The contemporary issues about life and death
June 2: The sanctity of life
June 3: The sacredness of the woman
There will be discussions from 18h00 to 20h00 at Dar Batha.
Festival in the City Programme
May 30-June 7 Free admission
18h30 at Boujloud Square and at 20h00 at Ait Skato: concerts
23h00 at Dar Tazi:
Rituals and chants of tohe Sufi Brotherhoods
15h00 to 18h00 at Al Houria Complex:
Pedagogical activities and artistic workshops
See a further explanation of The Tree of Life - click here.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
1 comment:
The Tree of Life -- great. But I'd like to know why Mohammed Kabbaj makes no mention of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life? And why the Kabbala's diagramatic version is not used as a theme for the 2009 festival? This ancient symbol encompasses the unfolding of consciousness which ultimately leads to enlightenment -- surely an appropriate message for a sacred music festival? And surely congruent with the Sufi path? M. Kabbaj mentions the Bible and the Koran, quoting conventional perspectives rather than esoteric ones. I see this as a limited aspiration - a narrow focus rather than a wide angle lens.
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