Selections  from  “The Conference of the Birds – by Farid ud-Din Attar

Originally presented at Lakewood Library

Written the the latter half of the 12th Century – The Conference of the Birds is a marvelous allegorical rendering of the Muslim doctrine of Sufism.  The Birds of the World – each representing a human fault – band together to find the Simorgh, a mythical Persian Bird roughly equivalent to the Western Phoenix, their king.  After a long and terrifying journey of many sacrifices,  they come to the end only to discover vast lake  in which they see their own reflections.

By turns Witty and Profound, the Conference of the Birds  transforms deep belief into magnificent poetry. The  WordStage ensemble will perform excerpts of this magnificent,significant work of Persian literature using the poem as text accompanied by a score derived from solo violin from Islamic musical  roots.