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,
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,
we continue with part 2
of our two part program
on 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.
Maalouf is the art of
Arab-Andalusian music
that is passed on by ear
from one generation
to the next.
Naguila Ensemble seeks
to share this precious oral
artform through its songs.
They are able to do this
through the help
of the group’s singer,
André Taïeb,
one of the last masters
of this musical heritage.
Born in
Constantine, Algeria,
Mr. Taïeb learned from
the highly respected
vocalist Cheikh Raymond.
André Taïeb, our singer,
he is not here, but always,
he is the bearer
of a message
that I do not forget.
He always says that now
on earth, it is here we
have to love each other,
later on it is too late.
That’s all.
It is necessary
to take advantage
of our existence to share
the universal values.
That’s it.
Peace upon you…
peace upon you
Peace upon you…
peace upon you
From the Lord…
Lord of the Lords
It is true
that it is a great task,
but I think that
it is not only a passion,
but that it is also our duty
to transmit this tradition,
I would say very modestly,
with the little
that we know,
that we have learned.
Up until now,
we have always been
in contact with our masters
or other professors
who exist in Maghreb,
to learn more,
to dig further
into this repertoire
because it is immense.
And what we especially
need to know
and need to note also
is that it is a tradition
based on oral transmission.
As there are
no written records,
there are no partitions,
and therefore,
it is really a vast universe,
I would say,
that is left to discover.
That’s it!
In the life
of Sephardic Jews,
music accompanies
all festivals and events
and through this,
the oral traditions are
passed on and preserved
in the hearts of the people.
Many of the songs
are liturgical poems
of a spiritual nature.
Oh my heart
Let it be as it is
Pay no attention to
what they say
And listen to the wisdom
of the old
Act deliberately
and do not hesitate
And patience shall pay off
Relief shall come at once
Relief shall come at once
Please keep your dial tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Enlightening Entertainment
will be right back
after these brief messages
with our feature
on the Naguila Ensemble.
It is like science, that’s it!
The more we progress,
the more we discover
and it is never over.
So, it is our duty
to transmit this tradition
that exists to our children,
to other cultures,
and especially to share it
with you, for example.
Thank you
for joining us again for
Enlightening Entertainment
with our feature
on Naguila Ensemble,
a Judeo-Arabic band
presenting
a harmonious synthesis
of music to its listeners.
Their unique blend
of music not only serves
as a message of peace
but also helps preserve
the ancient singing
traditions and culture.
One of the musical works
Naguila Ensemble
presents is, “The Journey
of Maimonides,”
a piece on the prominent
Jewish philospher
and Torah scholar
of the Middle Ages.
Maimonides is
a very important person
for Judaism.
First, he is a sage,
a wise man
in the interpretation
of the Torah.
Then, he is a doctor.
And he is someone who
lived through all this period
very intensely.
In the writings that
we can find about his life,
we see that he was someone
that was very attached
to his people, but also
to the whole environment
that made up Andalusia.
So he was a sage-doctor
of the Torah, who wrote
many books, of teachings,
almost exclusively
in Arabic.
The servant is contingent
to his master
Sadness and consolation
Are all at the hands of God
Tolerate the situation
Until God relieves you
Tolerate the situation
Until God relieves you
As fellow inhabitants
of our shared Earth,
members of
Naguila Ensemble
recognize their duty
not only as muscians
safeguarding
artistic traditions but also
as stewards of the planet.
If we want to survive, we
have to, above all things,
protect our environment,.
We do not have
a second spaceship,
we only have one,
it’s this planet. Here it is!
We have to pay attention
to protect our planet
because it is the first
command of the Bible.
It is to say to man,
“You will not dominate,
you will have to
run the planet.
You will have to
make sure to govern it.”
Govern does not mean
consuming without limit.
In this world,
to go towards peace,
I think that everyone can
contribute something,
do his part, from his side.
It means that the politicians
try to bring in something,
the artists on one hand,
the athletes
on the other hand,
and all this
to reach the same goal,
which is peace,
but everybody really
tries to advance, that’s it.
Humanity
in the 21st century
almost managed
to empty the sea.
So it's time to ask
true questions, alright?
To put life
back to the central point
and to stop looking only
at capitalistic interests,
or immediate profitability,
but to look at
long-term profitability.
The long-term
profitability,
it is the well-being,
it is the life
of the future generations.
The music
of Naguila Ensemble
recalls of a golden age
in which adherents
of Christianity, Islam and
Judaism peacefully existed
in a spiritual openness
that fostered
the melodious fusion
of their cultures.
Musicians have always
been the ambassadors
of peace.
As always,
initial agreements
came with the musicians,
and afterwards,
they were settled politically,
and at the end,
the musicians
return to celebrate,
in fact, the agreements.
Therefore
it is always like that,
in the beginning, at the end,
it is always with music.
To conclude
today’s program,
let us enjoy an excerpt
from Naguila Ensemble’s
performance,
with lyrics presented in
both Arabic and Hebrew.
When the morning
sun rises
When the morning
sun rises
You come into my mind
And when it sets
When it sets, my tears
flow down my cheeks
Peace... Peace...
Peace be upon you
Whether you are near
or far…
Peace upon you,
O ministering angels,
Peace upon you,
angels of
the Exalted One--
from the King
Who reigns over kings,
the Holy One,
Blessed is He
Thank you for
using your musical talents
to bring harmony
to the world,
Naguila Ensemble.
May your noble mission
be divinely blessed
with success.
Elegant viewers,
it was a pleasure
to have you with us for
Enlightening Entertainment.
Words of Wisdom
is up next, right after
Noteworthy News
here on
Supreme Master Television.
Let us all be guided
towards peace through
the inner melodies
of Heaven.
For more information
about
the Naguila Ensemble,
please visit:
For Naguila Ensembles
music CDs,
please visit
Born and raised in the
ancient land of Babylon,
in Iraq, Salam Jamil
honors his heritage
in his art.
The Iraqi environment
differs from
one quarter to another
and one city to another,
in color, method, designs.
That charm is
in the nature of Iraqis.
Explore Iraq
in the beautiful works of
the greatly accomplished
ceramic artist
Salam Jamil,
Tuesday, August 3,
on Supreme Master
Television’s
Enlightening Entertainment.