Music review: Jordi Savall’s Granada 1013-1526 is a homage to Christian-Islamic Andalusia

The Spanish composer's latest album Granada 1013-1526 continues his exploration of music and history, searching for common traces of culture.

Granada by Jordi Savall is released on Alia Vox.

Spanish-born conductor Jordi Savall is familiar to audiences in the UAE as he performed his Ibn Battuta: The Voyager of Islam concerts at the Abu Dhabi Classics series in 2014 and 2015. His latest album, Granada 1013-1526, continues his exploration of music and history.

It’s a journey through 500 years of the history of the Andalusian city, from its foundation by a Berber king in 1013 to its defeat as the last place of Muslim rule in Iberia in 1492 and the years after.

Javall plays the viol (a predecessor of the cello in use during this era) on the album and is joined by leading musicians from the Arab world, including Syrian singer Waed Bou Hassoun and Moroccan oud player Driss El Maloumi. Both Hassoun and El Maloumi also participated in the Ibn Battuta project.

The album is a musical portrait of a time when modern-day Spain was on the border between the Islamic and Christian worlds. The 24 tracks are all based on original court and folk poetry in Arabic and medieval Spanish from the 12th to 15th centuries.

Standout pieces include Lama Bada yatathana (When she starts to move), a classic Arab-Andalusian song, still sung in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Jordan. With the beguiling voice of Hassoun it sounds as fresh as ever.

Also, there is a moving Pero que seja a gente (Although they are people), attributed to King Alfonso the Wise, the early Roman Catholic king of Castile, León and Galicia, who founded an orchestra featuring Christians, Muslims and musicians from other religions.

Harsh reality sets in with Viva el Gran Rey Don Fernando (Long live the great King Ferdinand), an ode to the Christian king. Ferdinand, along with his wife Isabella, conquered Granada in 1492 and began the persecution of Muslims and Jews. He also sponsored Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas. Diario de abordo de Cristóbal Colón is a piece based on his ship diary. For the last piece, the album returns to a more sombre mood, deploring the fate of the Spanish Muslims in Lamento andalusí, and is taken from a text by the great Arab-Andalus 11th-century poet Ibn Zaydún.

On this album, named after the city that epitomised Islamic-Spanish culture, Savall continues his intriguing search for common traces of cultures and shared history though music.

Neil van der Linden curates music events in the Mena region.