One element in this year’s University of York Festival of Ideas was the second event to be held in the Bruce Wannell Memorial series, on Thursday 8 June at the National Centre for Early Music, Walmgate.

Alan Williams, former Chair of the BIPS research committee, and Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion at Manchester, was the main speaker, presenting a series of readings and reflections on the Masnavi of Jalal al-Din Rumi (Maulana), entitled ‘Open Heart Surgery: The Operation of Love in Rumi’s Masnavi’.  The readings were taken from Professor William’s ongoing translation of the Masnavi, declaimed with passion and revealing a very close engagement with the text and its poetical possibilities, mixing narrative simplicity with complex interpretation. Richard McClary introduced the event and chaired the question and answer session pursued by the appreciative full-house audience.

The second half of the evening was a concert by Seyed Ali Jaberi and the Hamdel Ensemble (based in Manchester), accompanying Professor Williams’ recitation of the famous story of the Old Harpist (Pir-i changi), who came to realise that his harp playing, which had made him famous, actually created a veil between him and God. The group was composed largely of stringed instruments and created a hypnotic atmosphere for the recitations, with a particularly striking solo piece on the daf.

BIPS is glad to have supported the event and looks forward to further opportunities in the future.