'We Are Them': Jon Balke and Siwan Call For Coexistence On 'Nahnou Houm'
Jon Balke
The region's spirit has inspired contemporary Norwegian pianist and composer Jon Balke â who  with his group Siwan  recently released his second album drawn from those influences  titled Nahnou Houm.
 Balke  first learned of Al-Andalus when  he  was commissioned to write music by a Moroccan promoter to celebrate a venue's 15th anniversary.
"This was how I stumbled upon Gharnati music  which is the Andalusian music that existed in 1400 in Spain and was driven out  " Balke  says.
The intellectual and social exchange fostered by  its  rulers helped make Al-Andalus one of the most culturally rich areas of Europe. But the Christian kingdoms to the north attacked repeatedly  and in 1492  the Spanish crown reclaimed the last vestiges of the region. Muslims and Jews were either forced to convert  killed or expelled. Many sought refuge across the Mediterranean Sea.
An Algerian classical singer  Boutchebak is the lead vocalist on the new album by  Jon Balke  and Siwan. She says the culture of what came to be called Andalusia was carried and preserved by the exiles.
 Jon Balke  has taken this tradition's poetry and composed  his  own music around it.
"It's a framing of the musical project "  Balke  says. "It puts the project in a framework that speaks about history and that speaks about a kind of a mentality that  from what you can read  existed in the best parts of this period â a kind of open  liberal practice of tolerance and coexistence.
The region's spirit has inspired contemporary Norwegian pianist and composer Jon Balke â who  with his group Siwan  recently released his second album drawn from those influences  titled Nahnou Houm.
 Balke  first learned of Al-Andalus when  he  was commissioned to write music by a Moroccan promoter to celebrate a venue's 15th anniversary.
"This was how I stumbled upon Gharnati music  which is the Andalusian music that existed in 1400 in Spain and was driven out  " Balke  says.
The intellectual and social exchange fostered by  its  rulers helped make Al-Andalus one of the most culturally rich areas of Europe. But the Christian kingdoms to the north attacked repeatedly  and in 1492  the Spanish crown reclaimed the last vestiges of the region. Muslims and Jews were either forced to convert  killed or expelled. Many sought refuge across the Mediterranean Sea.
An Algerian classical singer  Boutchebak is the lead vocalist on the new album by  Jon Balke  and Siwan. She says the culture of what came to be called Andalusia was carried and preserved by the exiles.
  [TGT] has taken this tradition's poetry and composed   [TGT]   own music around it.
"It's a framing of the musical project "  Balke  says. "It puts the project in a framework that speaks about history and that speaks about a kind of a mentality that  from what you can read  existed in the best parts of this period â a kind of open  liberal practice of tolerance and coexistence.