A RUMI

AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE:

Philadelphia Band mixes Appalachian blues

and 13th century Persian poetry

in new release.

Appalachian blues and 13th century Persian poetry seem an odd mix, but in the hands of Philadelphia’s Illumination Band it might just be the next big thing. The group, formed by artist Michael Green from a group of Philadelphia musicians, has been performing around the country with some of the best material in the world–the poetry of Sufi poet-mystic Rumi. In case Rumi hasn’t crossed your radar yet, he is currently the most-read poet in America today--and possibly the planet. His popularity here is largely due to the translations of Coleman Barks, a soft-spoken English professor from Georgia. And to Michael Green, who collaborated with Coleman to create the best-selling The Illuminated Rumi, a coffee table art book that opens a door to Rumi for just about anyone.

“Coleman has always done great concerts,” says Green, “but when my wife decided to produce a Rumi concert for Philadelphia, I wanted to do something special, and called up some musician friends—real pros who work in blues and country–but also closet Sufis. We made a great discovery: that the quality of spirit–longing which makes Rumi so attractive resonates perfectly with the yearning feeling that’s so much part of our native sacred music—you know, the Appalachian-blues-gospel tradition. It’s like two rivers coming together without a ripple. It’s something poignantly familiar and powerful. Suddenly you have a Rumi as American as apple pie.

“Did I just say that?” Green grins at the incongruity as he sits in his farmhouse kitchen. “But I’m not kidding. Sufism is generally described as a cultish thing at the mystical margins of Islam, but it’s not. When it’s authentic, it’s the spiritual heart of Islam. And the heart of all religions is a great open truth beyond the intellect and dogma. It’s the Kingdom of Heaven, the place where all traditions were born. Unfortunately it’s not very popular with religious power-brokers who like to draw lines in the sand. Divide and rule is how it goes, I believe.

“Islam definitely comes off pretty grim on the evening news right how, but if we can’t go deeper than evening news stereotypes, we’re flying blind in bad weather.

“I think the situation right now is like this: If you were a peaceful farmer in Anatolia whose village had just being leveled by a gang of Crusaders in the Middle Ages, you might want to know, What is Christianity anyway? Is it some crazy cult? What’s behind this? And if you pursued it, you might come to, say Saint Francis, and his ‘O Lord, let me be an instrument of Thy peace,’ and you would have this powerful handle on the situation, a beginning of fruitful dialogue. That’s who Rumi and the Sufi path is. He’s the real thing, he guards the flickerless flame at the heart of Islam. There are no arguments with Jesus there.

“Coleman says, ‘Rumi reminds us of the radiant depth inside that is present in grief and in love, in being ecstatically here in the moment. What he celebrates has many names, the soul, Buddha nature, the person of Christ, the Nur, and Rumi praises them all at one table. There is no quarrel about names or scriptures in Rumi. His work does not divide; it includes, and that is a blessing in these sectarian days. Rumi represents a nourishing exchange for both the East and the West, like the Silk Road was in his day where the beauties of the great religions and the storytellers and poets and their music flowed together and mixed into a new and vibrant fusion.’

“Rumi has become a great healing force in the West today–it’s the medicine of timeless truth. The trick is to translate the timeless into the language of the hour. For lots of people that’s music now, and somehow we’ve become part of the delivery system. But it’s important not to take too much credit for it. In Coleman’s imagery we’re more like waiters bringing wonderful dishes out from some cosmic kitchen.

“We’ve been invited to play around the country for a couple of years, but now the band has a CD inside the new ONE SONG book. I think it’s going to reach a lot of people who don’t ordinarily go into record stores or concerts. We’re working on a second CD now too, so we’re doing our part. It’s just wait and see what God...or Allah...or Yahweh... has in store for us.”

The Illumination Band’s new CD s part of the book /CD package just released by Running Press,

ONE SONG • A New Illuminated Rumi.


	Press Release As American as Apple Pie


Home Page A Blessing About The Book About the Music Download a Song Press Releases Pages from ONE SONG Appearances, Concerts Interview Questions Contact Links

		A RUMI AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE: Philadelphia Band mixes Appalachian blues and 13th century Persian poetry in new release. Appalachian blues and 13th century Persian poetry seem an odd mix, but in the hands of Philadelphia’s Illumination Band it might just be the next big thing. The group, formed by artist Michael Green from a group of Philadelphia musicians, has been performing around the country with some of the best material in the world–the poetry of Sufi poet-mystic Rumi. In case Rumi hasn’t crossed your radar yet, he is currently the most-read poet in America today--and possibly the planet. His popularity here is largely due to the translations of Coleman Barks, a soft-spoken English professor from Georgia. And to Michael Green, who collaborated with Coleman to create the best-selling The Illuminated Rumi, a coffee table art book that opens a door to Rumi for just about anyone. “Coleman has always done great concerts,” says Green, “but when my wife decided to produce a Rumi concert for Philadelphia, I wanted to do something special, and called up some musician friends—real pros who work in blues and country–but also closet Sufis. We made a great discovery: that the quality of spirit–longing which makes Rumi so attractive resonates perfectly with the yearning feeling that’s so much part of our native sacred music—you know, the Appalachian-blues-gospel tradition. It’s like two rivers coming together without a ripple. It’s something poignantly familiar and powerful. Suddenly you have a Rumi as American as apple pie. “Did I just say that?” Green grins at the incongruity as he sits in his farmhouse kitchen. “But I’m not kidding. Sufism is generally described as a cultish thing at the mystical margins of Islam, but it’s not. When it’s authentic, it’s the spiritual heart of Islam. And the heart of all religions is a great open truth beyond the intellect and dogma. It’s the Kingdom of Heaven, the place where all traditions were born. Unfortunately it’s not very popular with religious power-brokers who like to draw lines in the sand. Divide and rule is how it goes, I believe. “Islam definitely comes off pretty grim on the evening news right how, but if we can’t go deeper than evening news stereotypes, we’re flying blind in bad weather. “I think the situation right now is like this: If you were a peaceful farmer in Anatolia whose village had just being leveled by a gang of Crusaders in the Middle Ages, you might want to know, What is Christianity anyway? Is it some crazy cult? What’s behind this? And if you pursued it, you might come to, say Saint Francis, and his ‘O Lord, let me be an instrument of Thy peace,’ and you would have this powerful handle on the situation, a beginning of fruitful dialogue. That’s who Rumi and the Sufi path is. He’s the real thing, he guards the flickerless flame at the heart of Islam. There are no arguments with Jesus there. “Coleman says, ‘Rumi reminds us of the radiant depth inside that is present in grief and in love, in being ecstatically here in the moment. What he celebrates has many names, the soul, Buddha nature, the person of Christ, the Nur, and Rumi praises them all at one table. There is no quarrel about names or scriptures in Rumi. His work does not divide; it includes, and that is a blessing in these sectarian days. Rumi represents a nourishing exchange for both the East and the West, like the Silk Road was in his day where the beauties of the great religions and the storytellers and poets and their music flowed together and mixed into a new and vibrant fusion.’ “Rumi has become a great healing force in the West today–it’s the medicine of timeless truth. The trick is to translate the timeless into the language of the hour. For lots of people that’s music now, and somehow we’ve become part of the delivery system. But it’s important not to take too much credit for it. In Coleman’s imagery we’re more like waiters bringing wonderful dishes out from some cosmic kitchen. “We’ve been invited to play around the country for a couple of years, but now the band has a CD inside the new ONE SONG book. I think it’s going to reach a lot of people who don’t ordinarily go into record stores or concerts. We’re working on a second CD now too, so we’re doing our part. It’s just wait and see what God...or Allah...or Yahweh... has in store for us.” The Illumination Band’s new CD s part of the book /CD package just released by Running Press, ONE SONG • A New Illuminated Rumi.