Canticum Novum

In this new programme, the Canticum Novum ensemble retraces the itinerary of an extraordinary 16th-century traveller, the fascinating diplomat, man of letters and scholar Hassan Al Wazzan. 

A man of two shores, an intermediary between Christian Europe and the Muslim world, Hassan al-Wazzān was born in Granada at the very end of the 15th century. Born into a noble, literate family and educated in the best schools, he quickly learned to handle the languages and codes of Eastern and Western cultures, and moved from one world to another throughout his life. In turn a diplomat for Morocco, ambassador and negotiator, his life was a succession of exciting adventures: captured in Djerba by a Castilian privateer, he was offered to Pope Leo X, who imposed Catholic instruction and renamed him Joannes Leo de Medici, known as Leo the African. 

In a humanist context, Hassan Al Wazzan put his excellent anthropological and geographical knowledge at the Pope's service by writing his ‘Description of Africa’, which (unbeknownst to him) shaped the West's view of the dark continent.

Illustrating this encounter between East and West, this new programme from Canticum Novum evokes the incredible journey of this man, considered to be one of the precursors of the figure of the adventurer-writer. Hassan le voyageur offers a journey to the frontiers of the ancient and traditional music that once accompanied the epic of Hassan Al Wazzan and, for the duration of a concert, serves as a compass for our troubled century.

Cast - 6 artists
Canticum Novum (Emmanuel Bardon, conductor)
Barbara Kusa, Emmanuel Bardon, vocals 
Valérie Dulac, fiddle 
Philippe Roche, oud
Guénaël Bihan, recorders & traverso
Ismaïl Mesbahi, percussion 

Gregoire Béranger, writing & direction 
Elsa Jabrin, lighting design
Vincent Aubrin, sound design

This programme is available in two formats:

A concert format narrated by an actress
A theatrical format with scenography and lighting design

Created in June 2024