The Conference of the Birds is a stage performance inspired by the Persian poet Farid-ud-Din Attar’s (1145 – 1220) extensive poem Manteq ot-teyr. The work is based on a close collaboration between the participants where music, dance, video projections, sound, light and costume together create contrasting worlds throughout the different parts of the work. In the poem, all birds in the world gather for a meeting where they decide to choose Simorgh as their leader, a mythical bird that can be found beyond seven valleys. Sometimes closely intertwined, sometimes separated, the birds make their way through the seven valleys. Only at the end of the journey do the birds understand how they belong together on an existential plane, both in the past and in the future.
The music in the performance is based on and inspired by the Swedish – French composer Madeleine Isaksson’s (b. 1956) solo work for recorder, Les sept vallées (2006). The project’s participating artists have worked together in various constellations in previous projects. The working process can therefore be seen as a further development of previous explorations of interactions between the art forms.
Musician: Kerstin Frödin
Dancer: Katarina Eriksson
Choreography: Åsa Unander-Scharin
Videoscenography: Lene Juhl
Costume design: Ingibjörg Jara Sigurðardóttir
Musical arrangement: Kerstin Frödin
Elektroacoustic music & sound design: Kent Olofsson
Video technique & light design: Magnus Grönberg
Dressmaker: Elma Bjarney Guðmundsdóttir
Graphic designer: Malou Holm
