Today’s Enlightening Entertainment will be presented in Hebrew, Arabic and French, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

May your coming be for peace, O angels of peace
May your coming be for peace, O angels of the Exalted One--
from the King Who reigns over kings, The Holy One blessed is He.

Harmonious viewers, today on Enlightening Entertainment, let us rejoice in the unifying music of the renowned Naguila Ensemble, based in France. On National Geographic’s world music website, the band is described as, “They play a music rooted in the common history of their communities. Nowadays these worlds are often opposite. The Naguila Ensemble shows that, in the past, for over a thousand years, they could create wonderful music together.”

All are welcome here, all who want to hear music of our fathers, music of the synagogue. Our culture, is something that we have together with our Muslim brothers.

The musical group is comprised of the talented artists: Pierre-Luc Ben Soussan, who plays the darbuka and riqq; Mohamad Zeftari, who is a vocalist and violin player; Yédi Serfati, a vocalist; Fouad Didi, who plays the oud and sings; and André Taïeb, a vocalist.

Welcome. Naguila brings together Muslim and Jewish musicians and carries a message, the message of love and peace to the whole world.

Ten years ago, during the course of a project initiated by the Ministry of Culture in France to gather music from synagogues in the country’s southern region of Montpellier, Pierre-Luc Ben Soussan met many hazans, which are Jewish cantors. Notably, Mr. Ben Soussan came across a singer hailing from Constantine, Algeria named André Taïeb, who made a great impression with his musical talents.

True enough, due to the quality of this singer, after the gathering, I decided to introduce this musical heritage to the world, in fact, and those songs that are performed in the synagogues. From there then came the idea of putting together musicians from Algeria and Morocco, also of Muslim origin. It is that there is a common musical trend between the Jews which lived in Maghreb if you will, and of course, the Muslims who resided in those countries. It was thus to make this heritage from the synagogues known to the world.

Deer would look upon his glance Deer would look upon his glance
And because of his stature branches would straighten up
La la la la La la la la La la la la
And because of his stature branches would straighten up
La la la la La la la la

The Iberian Peninsula once flourished with the harmonious synthesis of three Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Jewish people from this region identify themselves as Sephardic Jews.

The period of Judeo-Andalusian life and community extends itself over one thousand years. And during this millennium that first saw the birth of Islam, then its expansion and its establishment in different regions around the Mediterranean. Islam established itself in the Iberian Peninsula. And it is there once again that the three populations, or in any case, the populations of the three religions, Muslim, Jewish and Catholic, had to adjust. A Golden Age was made possible for about 30 years.

With respect to everything that is happening in the world, why this world is really torn apart, completely torn apart; the Muslims on one side, the Jews on one side, the Christians on another side. So why not live all together and hence the name of this initiative, the name of this group, Naguila which means joy.

And so, it is this fraternity somehow from the children of Abraham that can today say, “Come! Let’s try to work together. And let’s try to apply this to different populations to first try to undo the prejudice that can exist amongst each other, amongst everyone.”

Peace is welcomed… the King of Peace Peace is welcomed… the All-Knowing King
From the King… Who reigns over kings, The Holy One blessed is He

Bless me for peace O angels of peace,
Angels of the Exalted One-- The Holy One, blessed is He.

Enlightening Entertainment will be back with Naguila Ensemble and its fusion of Judeo-Arabic music after these brief messages. Please keep your dial tuned to Supreme Master Television.

What is said that comes from the heart normally goes directly to the heart. There you are!

I believe that what also binds us is simply the love of music, and of that kind of music.

Thank you for joining us again on Enlightening Entertainment for our feature on the Naguila Ensemble, which merges the Judeo-Arabic roots of its members to create a unique sound while exemplifying a peaceful fusion of cultures. Its music is based on the oral tradition of religious music found in synagogues.

The mystical part is made-up of liturgical poems which were written for the most part during the 9th and 10th Century in medieval Spain, thus in Al-Andalusia during that period, by sages of the Torah, also, for the most part.

It is true that there are two parts. There is the poetic part, so the lyrics and all that, and the musical part.

Those poems were set to music and became the support, if you will, of numerous melodies, from both the classical Arabo-Andalusian and the popular repertoires. The synagogues were somehow the conservatory of popular melodies, sometimes forgotten by the natives if you will. And also from a certain science, I was going to say, in quotation marks, of this “Andalusian music”.

Peace upon the Beloved In proximity and in remoteness
As the breeze blew As the breeze blew As the breeze blew On the roses!

Through its music, Naguila Ensemble strives to preserve the musical traditions which illustrate humanity’s timeless yearning for the divine. Whether a song has lyrics in Arabic or Hebrew due to its origins, once it is embraced by a region’s population, it becomes part of that shared cultured.

The question about the music: is it Jewish music or is it Arabic music? Well, through time, the Jews, they are a part of the population in which they live. If they live in Canada, there, they have the Canadian culture, so not necessarily. You must not separate nationality from religion. That’s it, so you can’t say that there is a Jewish music. There is an Arabic or an Andalusian music, for example, but which brings together all the population that lived in Andalusia. This means that it does not solely belong to the Arabs but to all.

No matter the language, the universality of music speaks to the heart and transcends all differences. Since time memorial it has been used as a bridge of to foster harmony and unification. Traveling around the world to perform, Naguila Ensemble’s profound music exemplifies this idea.

Truly, the population that dominated Andalusia was the Berbers much more than the Arabs; but it was the language of sciences, the language of poetry, the language of culture, that is why they were singing in Arabic during that period. So after the religious part, even in Islamic religious music, it remains that we use melodies that already existed.

So there are songs that we find in Jewish liturgy or in the religious, the Muslim religious music and it is the same, it is the same melody. Take Samai Al Bayati, for example, it is sung in Hebrew and in Arabic and it is the same thing. So, it is from the same culture in fact, so that is the common ground.

To conclude today’s show, let us enjoy an excerpt of the song, “Freedom will Invoke” performed by the Naguila Ensemble.

Hear my voice the day I’ll invoke Hear my voice the day I'll invoke
God, grant a mountain in the desert Heather, acacia, cypress & common cypress
And to the one who warns and to the cautious Grant peace as a river stream
And to the one who warns and to the cautious Grant peace as a river stream
Know wisdom in your soul And a crown for your head
Keep your lord commandment Keep your sacred Sabbath
Keep your lord commandment Keep your sacred Sabbath

For more information about the Naguila Ensemble, please visit:
For Naguila Ensembles music CDs, please visit

Peaceful viewers, thank you for your company today for Enlightening Entertainment. Please tune in to Supreme Master Television next Wednesday for part 2 of our two part program on the Naguila Ensemble. And now, up next is Words of Wisdom, right after Noteworthy News. Wishing you many joyous and inspired moments in life.

Come visit Bundanoon, Australia’s first “Bottled Water-Free Town.”

Quite a number of towns in Europe and in the United States, Canada are being in touch and saying “Well, how do we do what you have done?”

For leading the initiative, Mr. Huw Kingston received the Shining World Leadership Award.

The community has decided that bottled water isn’t a good thing.

Renowned Macedonian opera singer Mr. Boris Trajanov rallied his country to plant millions of trees. (In Macedonian)

Suddenly it occurred to me, although nothing occurs accidentally, it comes from God. It occurred to me that all of us Macedonian people can do this forestation. And we must do it.

He was honored with the Shining World Protection Award and a €30,000 contribution from Supreme Master Ching Hai.

Find out more on Supreme Master Television, Saturday, July 24.