A friend of mine is about to unveil a remarkable project which has been six years in the making. Ladies and gentleman please visit the banks of Andalusia with me.
http://www.qasida.org/background.html
'Modern scholars tell us Muslim Spain is a civilisation the world has yet to repeat. They point to the grandeur of al-Andalus's spiritual, scientific, and literary legacy. And yet, the vast majority of its poetry has been lost in the fires of the Spanish Inquisition. What survives, though, fires the imagination of folk from around the world. In Toronto, a Canadian metropolis that happens to share geographical latitudes with Spain, a writers' guild felt inspired by Andalusia. In 2001, it launched The Andalusia Prize as an annual prize for poetry and fiction awarded to honour the literary legacy of Muslim Spain.'
Sailing To Andalus
The name of 'Atlantis'
Sounds as 'Andalus' does--
Geography forgot the forests and fortresses
Of Muslim Spain.
And yet, we sail to Andalus again;
We sail again
and we sail again....
The name of the 'Inquisitions'
recalls a hissing blaze--
crackling and crackling from flames reaching our chins,
Hot fires burying books
In piles of ash.
The name of Andalus,
The pride of our past.
But, sailing to Andalus, I convey:
'We need new names,
We need new Spains.
So let's sail to Andalus, but now anew,
For the past is done, and the future's to do.'
- AAS 2000 Toronto
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