In ‘Karitas’, recorded live at ‘When Paths Meet’ at the @holla | Sami Yusuf

In ‘Karitas’, recorded live at ‘When Paths Meet’ at the @hollandfestival, I wanted to give a voice to disparate musical traditions in dialogue with one another. This piece is intended to honour the individual traditions and present them in their integrity. Even the outro, in which everyone joins, is not the sound of fusion. It’s my belief that traditional music at its root is transcendent. It’s not from this world of division. It comes from one source, but is expressed in various forms. Since our musics are one in essence, it is possible to compose a work like ‘Karitas’ where their voices can join and their individuality remain undiminished. This is traditional music reimagined for the contemporary world.

‘Karitas’ begins in Bayati-Shiraz, a mugham whose sound evokes love and longing and resonates perfectly with the Western harmonic modal system. The work then transitions to maqam Nahawand and alludes to the powerful and direct sounds of maqam Rast. In this musical journey we travel from the Middle East to the aeolian modal systems of Greece and then to Western Europe, before returning to the harmonic minor scale of the outro.

We are working on the release of the full album, ‘When Paths Meet: Live at the Holland Festival’ and I’m excited for you to hear it soon. In the meantime, enjoy this clip of ‘Karitas’.

#karitas #samiyusuf