The Night of Rumi

Shervin Nekuee and GROUNDS present the first edition of The Night of Rumi, a festival that brings cultures together through music, poetry and storytelling.

Artistic director Shervin Nekuee, previously responsible for the Mystic Festival Rotterdam at GROUNDS, once again brings together artists from different language regions and musical traditions. This time, everything revolves around the poems, stories and philosophy of the thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi, whose work inspires many people in the West as well. His life motto "Here on earth we are to connect, not to sow division" forms the thread running through the programme, in which language, style and culture flow into one another.

The programme is a multilingual musical cross-over in Persian, Arabic, Dutch and Turkish, with traditional and modern sounds intertwined. Ali Safavian performs with the Ranaa Choir Ensemble, connecting Western opera with classical Persian music as an Iranian tenor. Singer Karima El Fillali brings Arabic mystical poetry together with cellist Léa Besançon. Ilyas Nadjafi sings well-known verses of Rumi in Persian, introduced by a Dutch recitation by Shervin Nekuee. Journalist Sinan Can tells about his connection to Rumi's philosophy and recites in Turkish, English and Dutch. As a premiere, setar player and vocalist Balout Khazraei and Stefkamusic, the project of singer-songwriter Stephanie Ruijsenaars and her band, join forces in the Rumi Life Song. Storyteller Sahand Sahebdivani brings Rumi's mystical stories to Dutch and to the present day.

Visitors are welcomed with Persian tea and artisanal sweets, provided by Rotterdam culinary expert Sima Moaf and her Stichting Sahand.