Shulùq Ensemble

Born in 2014 from the encounter of three musicians from different worlds — classical European, Arab-North African, baroque and jazz — the Shulùq Ensemble is named after the Arabic word for the Scirocco, the south wind that has carried cultures, languages and peoples across the Mediterranean for centuries. The ensemble's album, "The Dream of Ibn Hamdis" (VisageMusic, Italy, 2022), is built around the elegiac poetry of Ibn Hamdis — the 12th-century Arab-Sicilian poet who, exiled after the Norman invasion of Sicily, spent his life dreaming of the sea that separated him from his homeland. His verses, oscillating between longing and beauty, loss and transcendence, form the poetic soul of a musical journey that spans Algerian maqams, Sicilian folk melodies, Mediterranean rhythms and contemporary chamber music. Nine pieces. Fifty minutes. One sea. Performed across Italy, Algeria, Lebanon, and Indonésia, the Shulùq Ensemble has brought this music to stages ranging from international festivals to the Quirinale Palace in Rome, where it performed before the Presidents of Italy and Algeria in May 2022.