ACI spotlights 4,000 years of Mediterranean music heritage

Scholars and artists gather from across the region

The event took place in the presence of Dr Wael Farouq, Director of the Arabic Cultural Institute, alongside scholars and performers from Italy, France, Lebanon, and Egypt.

Opening session on modal music traditions

The day opened with a session moderated by Dr Farouq, featuring Prof Enrico Reggiani (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan) and Prof Nidaa Abou Mrad (Sorbonne University, Paris), both specialists in modal music.

During the session, Dr Farouq described Mediterranean culture as a language spoken by many peoples, each with its own dialect. The speakers argued that modal musical systems form a coherent yet diverse language that spans Arab, Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman traditions. Live musical interludes illustrated the shared roots of sacred and secular music across civilisations.

Evening concert tracing 4,000 years of music

In the evening, the university’s Aula Magna hosted a concert tracing a historical arc from the oldest known melody—inscribed on a clay tablet from ancient Ugarit—to the 19th-century Arab Renaissance.

Performed by an ensemble led by Prof Abou Mrad (kemantché, vielle, violin) alongside Tarik Beshir (oud, vocals), Rafka Rizk (vocals), and Ghassan Sahhab (qanun, lyre), the programme unfolded through seven distinct stages.

Highlights included Syriac and Coptic liturgical chants, modal compositions by Abbasid theorist Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Urmawī, Sufi settings of Ibn ʿArabī, and musical references to Dante Alighieri’s ties to the Mediterranean world.

Music as a bridge of Mediterranean identity

Dr Farouq, who recently received the 2025 Mediterranean Excellence Award for culture and intercultural dialogue, said the concert demonstrated how music can connect different cultures through a shared Mediterranean identity.