I am excited to announce that I will be performing my new show ZIK'R on June 18th at the prestigious Sadler's Wells. Together with Youth, my musical collaborator, the show which started life in the foothills of India and then moved to Morocco, now arrives in the UK for the first of several dates.
ZIK'R has been created to be a story of life. Its birth came from conversations I had with Youth when we were working on my last album Come With Me. During our recording sessions we discovered we shared a spiritual outlook, something that was so core to both of us and our entire philosophy of life. We were both avid readers and admirers of the Sufi masters and teachers such as Rumi. When life brought us the amazing opportunity to perform at the World Sufi Spirit Festival in Jodhpur, India earlier this year, we decided to create some original music for the festival as it just seem to resonate within us so well. We also went on to perform at the Marrakech Biennale which was a moment I will always remember.
Youth has created a mix of songs that sit together with my flamenco performance. We celebrate the birth place of flamenco in India where its own roots first began, right there in Rajasthan. It all seemed like serendipity when we were in India and it created the desire in us to expand our Jodhpur performance and to create a new show that followed the path of flamenco, tracing the route of the gypsies from northern India to the Middle East and onto Spain. It was as though I was reuniting all the music from my origins and revisiting the Sufi-Indian influence, mixed with flamenco but also intertwined with Arabic rhythms and music. What an amazing combination it has proved to be and quite a magical and alchemical journey!
Youth, who is an amazing musician and producer and the bassist in the band Killing Joke, has created with me, a narrative that follows the story of flamenco and its centuries-long journey intertwined with Sufism. Youth explains, "Sufi music for me is soul music. What I love about it most is the ambition to achieve ecstatic transcendence through music and dance." For me, the blend of spiritual music and flamenco is a natural and most magical place in which to perform.
We are so blessed to be joined by an ensemble of extraordinary multi-talented musicians who will help us to explore the cross-cultural roots of world music, offering a sound-clash of Qawwali, Egyptian and Moroccan traditional sounds, which all collide with the intensity of the flamenco spirit. The show's lyrical Inspiration can been found in 13th century Sufi mystics, the poetry of Lorca and the native mystical traditions of dance and music throughout Europe, Middle East and India. Indeed the name of the show means "Remembrance to God." It is a spiritual attitude and also the name of the dervish dance - as they twirl around they are performing ZIK'R, merging with the spirit of God.
ZIK'R is a very personal journey for me and the show is made from the many elements that make up my own DNA and I will be both exploring and responding to my roots in the music through my performance. Youth who has a long and well-documented interest in music, in all its forms, has shown how different cultures can come together to promote the idea that we are all one. I am also working with the amazing French artist Fabrice Hyber, a long-time friend of mine. Fabrice will be creating an installation as part of the show - blending my own love of contemporary art with the creative work Youth and I are establishing through music and dance.
ZIK'R is ever evolving and becoming fueled with its own life force - it is quite an incredible energy and I very much hope you will join us on the 18th in London for something we hope will be very special, when we recreate this amazing journey on the London stage; not only the musical journey of the gypsies but also the journey of the soul, finding its roots and finding the true meaning of life... ZIK'R
Tickets cost £20. Please call: 0844 412 4300 www.karenruimy.com