Aède of the Ocean and Land
A Play in Seven Acts by Noor Inayat Khan
Directed by Elli Papakonstantinou * Music by Shirish Korde
Featuring Dashon Burton, Jen Zetlan & Emily Pulley
Monday, September 14, 2020
1 pm New York, 6 pm London, 7 pm Athens
***A Zoom Live Music-Cinema Event***
Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944) is widely remembered as a hero and martyr of the Second World War. Her play, Aède of the Ocean and Land, written in verse, uses Homer’s Odyssey as its framework. ”Noor Inayat Khan delicately infuses Sufi philosophy into her play, weaving a narrative that is at once referring to her parents as well as her own life’s journey.” (Shrabani Basu) Noor reimagines Homer’s epic. The journey of Ulys in Aède is an allegory representing Noor’s father, the Indian mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan’s, spiritual journey in the West, while the seven acts and the structure of Aède recall the seven valleys traversed by the birds in Farid Attar’s medieval Sufi classic “The Conference of Birds.”
This live music-cinema zoom performance is directed by Elli Papakonstantinou, with music by Shirish Korde drawing on South Asian as well as contemporary American and European idioms.
Aède will be performed live simultaneously from Athens, New York, San Francisco, Den Haag and Rome via Zoom. The 22 artists involved are spanning ten time zones, representing five countries. Co-produced by Tarana Sara Jobin on behalf of the Astana and the ODC Ensemble.
Tickets are available via Eventbrite at $20 each with the opportunity to make an extra donation to support artist remuneration. We are incredibly grateful to this cast of professionals, performing from their homes because of the pandemic, and welcome donations of all amounts. Buying a ticket also enables you to watch the recording if you are not able to attend the live event.
The Cast
Dashon Burton, Ulys
Emily Pulley, Penelope
Jen Zetlan, Telemachus
Gemma Carbone
Valia Papachristou
Video Artist
Musicians
Muneko Otani, violin
Jennifer Leshnower, violin
Ah Ling Neu, viola
Elizabeth LatifaNoor Anderson, cello