Inspired for many years by the Sufi poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Kiya Tabassian has regularly ventured into setting his texts to music. Yet it was only after hearing the voice of Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali that the musician and director of Ensemble Constantinople conceived a specific project to give voice to the work of this thirteenth-century poet. Together, Tabassian and Benali selected a series of poems in Persian and Arabic, working from Rumi’s belief that he belonged neither to a particular country nor even to East or West. This is therefore music founded upon poetry that transcends borders.