Credits:

Illuminantes Tenebras

Description:

An ensemble formed around Belgian oud player Tristan Driessen, Illuminans Tenebras (Latin for illuminating the darkness), sheds a completely new light on the music of Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century nun and mystic. It musically bridges Western Christian mysticism with Sufism (Islamic mysticism), which developed in the Middle East during the same era, It highlights the striking similarities and strong affinity between the expressive freedom and wide range of Hildegards monophonic chants and the maqam modes and taksim improvisation of Middle Eastern music. The mystical melodies preserved in the Dendermonde manuscript are accompanied not by medieval Western instruments, but by improvisations on Middle Eastern instrumentssuch as the ney (reed flute), bendir (frame drum), oudinstruments that symbolize Sufi musicrather than Western medieval instruments, bringing to light the deep spirit