SIWAN is the result of a long line of research, also into the reverberations of the Al-Andalus epoque in the writings of philosophers and religious thinkers elsewhere in Europe after the end of the muslim era in 1492.Amina Alaoui has been a great contributor in this respect.
One will find a striking similarity in the writings of the sufi poets and the catholic and sephardic mystics. The term mystic is itself a reference to the audacity to formulate ideas about abstraction that were extremely controversial at the time. San Juan de la Cruz for instance, speaks in Toda sciencia trascendiendo about a personal, pure experience of an understanding beyond understanding, a revelation beyond scientific knowledge.Al Hallaj speaking from an Islamic point of reference often labeled Sufi or mystic, is describing the same in his Triptycon , or Thulathyat in arabic.
The relation between rational thought and religious faith is also often the subject of deep investigation, as in the thinking of Averroes and other philosophers.
There are striking resemblances to later philosophy and contemporary poetry in surprisingly many of these poems, and as such, the material speaks of a period with a fresh creative climate that later was suppressed and its daring thinkers persecuted and eliminated.
Poems used in Siwan :
Castigo de las amapolas by Ibn Al Zaqqaq 12th century
Oh Andalucin-Ibn Khafaja 1058-1139
Ya safwati -Al Mutamid Ibn Abbad 11th century
Ashiyyin raiqin-Al Rusafi de Valencia
A la Dina, Soneto -Lope de Vega. 1562-1635
Thulathyat-Al Hallaj 857-922
Toda sciencia transcendiendo-San Juan de La Cruz 15th
Sin Nada querer by San Juan de la Cruz
Duda by Ibn Al Zaqqaq 12th century
Jadwa/ Vivir de mi patria ausiente- Al Homaidi, Cordoba 11th century
Aun Bebiendo-Faridu din Attar 12th century sufi poet
Translations from arabic to spanish or english is difficult, and much of the beauty in the poetic craft is lost . In Siwan a lot of the music was composed to a spanish translation and later re-shaped around the original arabic version.IN some of the songs performed live, we use both Spanish and Arabic