February brings back the annual Arab music festival Al-Mutamid
– February 6, 2023
February marks the return of the Al-Mutamid Music Festival, which will bring traditional Arab music to several towns in the Algarve and further north.
This year’s festival will feature performances by “different groups specialised in the sounds of Al-Andalus, but also the music and dances of the Middle East, Maghreb and Eastern Mediterranean”.
The performances will be held in Lagoa and Silves which were once part of the territory “formerly known as Al-Andalus during the time of Al-Mutamid”.
Lagoa will host a performance by the Sufi Soul Ensemble – which comprises performers from Tunisia, Morocco and Syria – at the Carlos do Carmo auditorium on February 25. Tickets can be purchased here (www.bol.pt) or at Fnac, Worten, Ctt, El Corte Inglés.
Monia Abdelali from Tunisia will perform at the Mascarenhas Gregório Theatre in Silves on March 11. Tickets can be purchased here (www.bol.pt) or at Fnac, Worten, Ctt, El Corte Inglés.
The event is described as a tribute to King Al-Mutamid, the son and successor to the King of Seville, Al Mutadid. Born as Muhammad Ibn Abbad in Beja in 1040, Al-Mutamid was named governor of Silves when he was just 12 years old, having ascended in 1069 to the throne of Seville, “the strongest kingdom among those that were created in Al-Andalus after the fall of the Cordoba caliphate”. In 1088, he was dethroned by the Almoravids and fled to Agmat, south of Marrakech, where he would die in 1095. His grave, which remains preserved until today, has become a “symbol of the most beautiful times of Al-Andalus,” organisers Ibérica Eventos say.
For more information, visit Al-Mutamid Music Festival‘s Facebook page.
