Chicago Theater Review: ZIRYAB: THE SONGBIRD OF ANDALUSIA (Silk Road Rising)

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by Lawrence Bommer on February 21, 2016

in Theater-Chicago

MEETING IN MUSIC

In the basement of the Chicago Temple, playwright/actor/musician Ronnie Malley displays his electric affinity for and considerable fluency in a dozen musical tongues. In 75 minutes this Chicago performer takes us back to the ninth century and deep into our own. On Yeaji Kim’s magic-carpet set, strewn with exotic musical instruments and illustrated by evocative projections and video, Ziryab: The Songbird of Andalusia is a welcome, multi-cultural world premiere from Silk Road Rising. Malley’s labor of love testifies to the power of art to make us at home wherever.

Ronnie Malley, author and performer in “Ziryab, The Songbird of Andalusia.” Photo by by Airan Wright.Malley, who grew up on Chicago’s South Side in a Palestinian-American family who refused to feel like exiles, is steeped in global music. Pursuing its sources from Morocco to Iraq, this splendid singer melds regional styles in a stunning showcase where harmony is literal. Along the way he regales us with Arabic poetry, legends and songs that reprise the golden age of Islamic Iberia.

Malley centers this contagious nostalgia among the wonders of Al-Andalus. Southern Spain, of course, is where the mosque of Córdoba, Seville’s magnificent Christian/Islamic Giralda tower, and the palace and gardens of the Alhambra in Granada still proclaim a glorious culture lost in 1491 to Ferdinand and Isabella (Aragon and Castile). For seven centuries Andalusia wasn’t just an architectural wonderland of arabesque filigree and tiled shrines. It saw a diverse Semitic realm of mutual admiration. Here Jewish, Islamic and Christian scholars and artists could learn and create together, a comingling of cultures that has seldom happened since. As Malley says, it’s more important to be good neighbors than good Jews, Arabs or Christians.

Ronnie Malley, author and performer in “Ziryab, The Songbird of Andalusia.” Photo by by Airan Wright.

Malley fixes his musical evolution to the memory of the great Abu I-Hasan, known as Ziryab (“Nightingale” or “Blackbird” to his Spanish devotes). He was a former slave who lived and worked in Iraq, northern Africa and finally medieval Spain. Ziryab (789-857) was an omni-talented avatar, composing, playing the oud, writing poetry, teaching, and inspiring to today. He proved invaluable to every court where he was preferred–the Abbasids in Baghdad and the castle of Abd ar-Rahman II of the Umayyads in Córdoba. This maker of an astounding 10,000 songs was a master of many trades, gifted in cooking, fashion, weather prediction, botany, geography and astronomy.

Ronnie Malley, author and performer in “Ziryab, The Songbird of Andalusia.” Photo by by Airan Wright.

But mostly music, as Malley traces his influence through the instruments he plays — dulcimer, lute, even electric guitar, and the moods he conjures with engaging virtuosity. Malley richly regales us with songs that are both time trips and travelogues. His avocation is as religious as artistic. It links him in tolerance to the Abrahamic god of three religions and countless cultures. Malley connects us too. The result is wonderful.

Ronnie Malley, author and performer in “Ziryab, The Songbird of Andalusia.” Photo by by Airan Wright.

photos by by Airan Wright

Ronnie Malley, author and performer in “Ziryab, The Songbird of Andalusia.” Photo by by Airan Wright.

Ronnie Malley, author and performer in “Ziryab, The Songbird of Andalusia.” Photo by by Airan Wright.Ziryab: The Songbird of Andalusia
Silk Road Rising
Pierce Hall
The Historic Chicago Temple Building
77 W. Washington St. Lower Level
Thurs at 7:30; Fri and Sat at 8; Sat & Sun at 4
scheduled to end on February 28, 2016
for tickets, call 312.857.1234 x 201
or visit Silk Road Rising

for more theater info, visit Theatre in Chicago

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Nicole February 22, 2016 at 8:22 am

There is no dulcimer in this performance, Mr. Bommer. I believe you meant the percussion instrument the darbouka.

Reply

Noha Forster February 22, 2016 at 7:22 pm

“Jews, Arabs, and Christians” leaves the wrong impression. Arabs are not a religion. Arabs are Jews, Muslims and Christians whose native language is Arabic.

Reply

Lawrence Bommer February 23, 2016 at 7:40 am

Sorry about the dulcimer that never was. It sounded so like one that I imagined that it looked like one too.

As for my “wrong impression,” I intended to mention disparate groups here, not religions. But, given the context, the misunderstanding is quite plausible.

Reply

Marz February 27, 2016 at 11:31 am

Was there a qanun in it? That might sound like a dulcimer.

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