A dialogue between two distant yet kindred spheres: the sacred Christian music of medieval Andalusia and the Dhrupad tradition. Through devotion and inner stillness, the Andalusian maqām and the Indian raga share a spiritual architecture where melody becomes meditation, a path to the sacred.

The origins of Moroccan Andalusian music can be traced to southern Spain, where Muslim courts flourished from the 8th to the 15th centuries and mutual influences between Spain and Morocco are apparent in the music itself. In the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria was initiated by King Alfonso X who believed in the power of the Virgin Mary.

The foundation of the Andalusian school of music is generally attributed to Ziryab ‘Alī Ibn Nāfi‘, a Persian slave, later freed, who came to the court of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān II in Cordoba from Baghdad in 822. Ziryāb proposed a system of 24 modes, one for each hour of the day and each similar to the nature of the ragas.

Anaïs Oliveiras, soprano
A Soprano singer from Barcelona, she currently works with La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana, Música Ficta Ensemble, Cor de Cambra Francesc Valls from Barcelona’s Cathedral, among others. She also works the direction of Jordi Savall.
She also recorded “Dixit Dominus by Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and George Frideric Handel ” and “Messe en Si Mineur” by J.S. Bach.

Pelva Naik
Pelva Naik, well known dhrupad singer, was trained in the Dhrupad style of vocal music by the prestigious Dagar Gharana. She is a disciple of the legendary Dhrupad master Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar and have also received expert guidance from the Rudra veena maestro, Ustad Mohi Bahauddin Dagar.

Pelva, with the great freedom that the discipline of Dhrupad offers, is able to transmit new emotions that cultivate from the ultimate characteristics of the Dhrupad.

Efrén López
Efrén López is a distinguished multi-instrumentalist and composer fromEurope. He specializes in a wide range of plucked string and medieval-heritage music instruments originating from the Eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and Central Asia. His artistic work bridges early European music, Mediterranean folk traditions and non-Western modalities.