Art and Architecture

Audio/Video

Khaled Al-Saa'i, a Calligrapher at Work

© 2002, Khaled Al-Saa'i

Used by permission of Khaled Al-Saa'i

This clip is 3.86 megabytes in size

Running time is 3 minutes and 51 seconds

This clip represents the convergence of three of the most important art forms in the Arab world. Syrian calligrapher Khaled Al-Saa’i writes a verse by the Jordanian poet Taher Riadh while accompanied by Khaled Jaramani, lute virtuoso, member of the Syrian National Orchestra and professor at the Syrian High Institute for Music. Khaled Al-Saa’i is one of the most important contemporary artists in the Arab world. Some of his work, inspired by Arabic poetry, can be seen in the gallery for our unit on literature and philosophy. In this clip he writes using a traditional reed pen and natural ink and tempera. The maqaam (musical scale) of the piece played by Jaramani is known as Rast, a rhythm Al-Saa’i matches with his trademark calligraphic style, Diwany Jaly, combined with the Taaliq and Farisi styles. The poem Khaled is writing is a Sufi poem that can be loosely translated as follows:
It is her flowing over
Flowing out of my body
Releasing her pure soul
His (her) soul is my soul
And my soul is his (her) soul
On my eyelids he (she) may walk if desired