ABOUT THE CATHEDRAL CONCERT ARTISTS

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“I used to recite prayers. Now I recite rhymes and poems and songs.”
— Rumi in Ghazal 2,351

COLEMAN BARKS was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and educated at the University of North Carolina and the University of California at Berkeley. He taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia for thirty years. He is the best selling author of The Essential Rumi, The Soul of Rumi, Rumi: The Book of Love, The Drowned Book, and Rumi: The Big Red Book. Coleman has been a student of Sufism since 1977. His work with Rumi was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers’s Language of Life series on PBS, and he is a featured poet and translator in Bill Moyers’s poetry special, “Fooling with Words.” Coleman Barks is the father of two grown children and the grandfather of five. He lives in Athens, Georgia where he focuses on writing, readings and performance. colemanbarks.com

“In 1976 the poet Robert Bly handed Barks a copy of Cambridge on AJ Arberry’s translation of Rumi and said, ‘These poems need to be released from their cages.’ Barks transformed them from stiff academic language into American-style free verse. Since then, Barks’ translations have yielded 22 volumes in 33 years, including The Essential Rumi, A Year with Rumi, Rumi: The Big Red Book and Rumi’s father’s spiritual diary, The Drowned Book, all published by HarperOne. They have sold more than 2million copies worldwide and have been translated into 23 languages.”
—BBC Jane Ciabattari 21 October 2014

“Coleman Barks found Rumi floating in some Georgian lake and brought him back to life. What a blessing! Rumi says, ‘Some nights stay up until dawn, as the moon sometimes does for the sun.’ Coleman has stayed up all night, and every reader is grateful” —Robert Bly, National Book Award poet

Review of the band Coldplay’s new album Head Full of Dreams: “The real star of the short track, Kaleidoscope, featuring the Obama sample, is the 78-year-old American poet Coleman Barks, who reads his own translation of a poem by the 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi, including the lines: “This being human is a guest house/ Every morning a new arrival./ A joy, a depression, a meanness,/ some momentary awareness comes/ as an unexpected visitor.” Set afloat on a gentle pool of piano and glockenspiel, the combination of Barks’ rich, sonorous certainty and Rumi’s ancient wisdom makes a beautiful still point at the center of a relentlessly forward-marching record.” —The Telegraph, London, Helen Brown, December 2015

Dance when you’re broken open.
Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you’re perfectly free
—Rumi

ZULEIKHA is an international Storydancer, performer, musician and educator whose work inspires dynamic creativity and rejuvenation through movement. Zuleikha weaves together stories and myths of world cultures in praise of life. She creates CDs of original music based on the poetry of the mystics. Zuleikha’s collaborative work with world musicians and poets features such luminaries as poet Coleman Barks, poet Robert Bly, composer performer Terry Riley, world percussionist Glen Velez, cellist David Darling, vocalist and instrumentalist Jai Uttal, and other wonderful artists.

“…a singular figure on the horizon of sacred theater and dance, a mistress of countless faces, who moves effortlessly through space.”— Edinburgh Guide

Renowned for her global humanitarian work, storydance performances, and innovative classes, Zuleikha is the Founder/Director of The Storydancer Project, a non-profit international artistic health resource organization’ that serves girls, women, children and families facing challenging life circumstances. Zuleikha is the recipient of a number of humanitarian awards for her outstanding work in the world promoting positive personal and social change. www.storydancer.com, www.thestorydancerproject.org

“Zuleikha not only walks her talk, she dances it. Through her artistry, she raises the integration of body, mind, and spirit to a new level. Her style and her teaching inspire individuals to achieve levels they were not aware they could reach. In Zuleikha, art and healing unite.”—Dr. Larry Dossey, MD (Author: Reinventing Medicine and the Power of Premonitions; Executive Editor: Explore – The Journal of Science and Healing)

Honored as a peacemaker and virtuoso, OMAR FARUK TEKBILEK’s music transcends political boundaries while maintaining traditional sensibilities. His music is rooted in tradition with the influence of contemporary sounds. The four corners of his creativity emanate mysticism, folklore, romance, and imagination. The musician and his music symbolize diversity-in-unity.

A musical prodigy born in Adana, Turkey to a musical family, he began on the kaval (diatonic flute), while studying religion with thoughts of becoming an Imam. Working in his Uncle’s music store, he eventually mastered the ney (bamboo flute), zurna (buzzing tone double-reed oboe-like instrument, the baglama (long-necked lute), the oud (classic lute), as well as percussion. At age twelve he began performing professionally at local hot spots.

In 1967 Tekbilek moved to Istanbul spending the decade as a session musician and exploring Arabesque, Turkish, and Western styles. He played with leading Turkish musicians of the day including Orhan Gencebay, flute and saxophone player Ismet Siral, percussionist Burhan Tonguc and singers Ahmet Sezgin, Nuri Sesiguzel, Mine Kosan and Huri Sapan. In Istanbul he met the Mevlevi Dervishes, the ancient Sufi order of Turkey. The head Neyzen (ney player), Aka Gunduz Kutbay, became a source of inspiration and Omar was influenced by the Sufi mystical fusion of sound and spirit. He was introduced to Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi and Chi Qong, which he continues to practice.

Tekbilek began touring Europe and Australia and at the age of 20 made his first tour of the United States in a Turkish classical/folk ensemble. While in the US he met his future wife, Suzan, and moved to upstate New York in 1976 to marry.

In New York he formed a band, the Sultans, with an Egyptian keyboardist, a Greek bouzouki player, and his brother-in-law on percussion. This Pan-Near-Eastern ensemble recorded five albums. Meeting Brian Keane in 1988, they would produce six recordings that launched the artist onto the world music scene. He has collaborated with jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, keyboard player Karl Berger, ex-Cream rock drummer Ginger Baker, Ofra Haza, Simon Shaheen, Hossam Ramzy, Glen Velez, Bill Laswell, Mike Mainieri, Peter Erskine, Trilok Gurtu, Jai Uttal, Yasmin Levy, Tomatito, Enrique Morente and Steve Shehan. He has contributed to film and TV scores and many world sacred music albums. Omar Faruk Tekbilek continues to tour internationally. www.omarfaruktekbilek.com/

A four-time Grammy winner, GLEN VELEZ is the founding Father of the modern frame drum movement and a legendary figure among musicians and audiences worldwide. Velez brought a new genre of drumming to the contemporary music scene by creating his own performance style inspired by years of percussion and frame drumming studies from various cultures. Velez’s virtuosic combinations of hand movements, finger techniques, along with his original compositional style, which incorporates stepping, drum language and Central Asian Overtone singing (split-tone singing), has opened new possibilities for musicians around the globe, resulting in a shift in modern percussion.

Velez is the first percussionist to gain international recognition as a successful solo artist using frame drums. In 1989, twentieth century composer John Cage wrote Composed Improvisation for One-Sided Drum with or without Jingles especially for Velez. His extensive array of frame drum innovations and sounds have inspired collaborations with Steve Reich, Paul Winter Consort, Suzanne Vega, Maya Beiser, Tan Dun, Pat Metheny, Israel Philharmonia, Brooklyn Philharmonia, Opera Orchestra of New York, Taipei Chinese Orchestra, Zakir Hussain, Sonny Fortune, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, David Darling, Howard Levy, Eugene Friesen and Coleman Barks. Live performances include those broadcast on Spanish National Radio 4, German Public Radio, Italian National Radio 3, Austrian Radio Freistadt. His Ta Ka Di Mi Duo with virtuoso Rhythm Vocalist Lori Cotler has garnered critical and audience acclaim around the world.

The Velez signature sound is heard on films, television commercials and modern dance scores. His collaborations in Early Music include two recordings with the Ensemble for Early Music entitled Istampita I and II. Glen has recorded on hundreds of albums on ECM, CBS, RCA, GRP, Warner Brothers, Deutsche Gramophone, Geffen, Nonesuch, Capital, CMP, Music of the World, Sounds True, Interworld, Ellipsis Arts, Daftof Records and Sony. Recordings of his own music include his most recent release Glen Velez Solo and Breathing Rhythms Duo – Glen Velez and Lori Cotler (Daftof records). www.glenvelez.com