Celebrating Rumi: An Evening of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi's Poetry and Sufi Music with Whirling Dervishes

TITLE: Celebrating Rumi: An Evening of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi's Poetry and Sufi Music with Whirling Dervishes

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SPEAKER: Talat Sait Halman, Ahmet Ozan
EVENT DATE: 03/14/2007
RUNNING TIME: 140 minutes

DESCRIPTION:

The Library's African and Middle Eastern Division and the Music Division co-sponsored a poetry and music program with the Turkish Embassy titled "Celebrating Rumi: An Evening of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi's Poetry and Sufi Music with Whirling Dervishes." This was the first of several programs which launched the UNESCO's International Year of Rumi in the United States.

Rumi who lived in the 13th century wrote poetry in Persian, which has not only survived for 800 years, but has been translated into numerous languages around the world. Talat Sait Halman, the head of the department of Turkish Literature and dean of the faculty of Humanities and Letters at Bilkent University, read from his own translation of Rumi's poetry. Ahmet Ozan, a well known performer of popular Turkish music, sang Turkish Sufi songs inspired by the works of Rumi. He was accompanied by a musical ensemble performing on traditional musical instruments, along with two whirling dervishes on the stage of the Coolidge auditorium.

Speaker Biography: Talat Sait Halman is the head of the department of Turkish literature and dean of the faculty of humanities and letters at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

Speaker Biography: Ahmet Ozan is Turkish musician.