Water signifies seas, rivers, tears, fertility, green meadows and lush forests. No water, on the other hand, means drought, deserts, isolation and detachment. This element has inspired composers, artists, poets for centuries. For Whirling Waters, Sofie Vanden Eynde invited string player Saad Mahmoud Jawad to create a programme that explores our connection to water, its symbolism, and the many different ways that this element has taken shape in different cultures.
Vanden Eynde and Jawad use their instruments (oud, lute and theorbo) as vessels to take us on a global journey through both oriental music and European repertoire, with a central spotlight on Vladimir Gorlinsky, a Russian composer who is partial to the use of non-canon instruments in his music, and Aftab Darvishi, an Iranian composer trying to bridge the gap between Teheran, where she grew up, and Amsterdam, where she studied music.
Sofie Vanden Eynde started playing the guitar at a young age, and decided to explore the string instruments further with a main focus on the renaissance and baroque. She studied at the Conservatory in Ghent and Schola Cantorum in Basel, and has since worked with Art House 17, Myriam Pruvot, New London Baroque, Bel Ayre, … in concert venues such as Oude Muziek Festival Utrecht, Styriarte, Valletta Baroque, MA Festival, Wigmore Hall, O. Rotterdam and Dublin National Concert Hall. In 2012 she founded IMAGO MUNDI, a meeting place for old and new music, different musical traditions, and a variety of art disciplines.
Saad Mahmoud Jawad graduated from the Conservatory of Baghdad and has since taught at different music institutions and performed as a soloist and in ensembles across the world. The Iraq Department of Culture awarded him the title of best instrumentalist and ‘Knight of the Iraqi oud’ in 2001. He’s one of the peace ambassadors for the organization Global Peace without Borders and even registered as a record holder with Guinness World Records after he performed for 24 hours and 30 minutes straight during the concert ‘Oud for Peace’. He is the first oud player in the Guinness Book of World Records.