Muhsin Al Musawi and Marin Alsop in One thousand and one Nights - Essay Example

Muhsin Al Musawi and Marin Alsop in One thousand and one Nights Muhsin Al Musawi has written many books on the ic Arabian book, The Thousand And One Nights and is a professor of Arabic literature in Columbia University (learner.org). Marin Aslop is a music director at Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and she “has conducted Rimsky-Korsakovs Scheherazade many times over the course of her career” (learner.org). Both these persons can be seen speaking in the 30-minutes long video, The Thousand And One Nights, a part of the television series, Invitation to World Literature, as this video explores “high Islamic culture” through the story of Shaharazad (learner.org). In this video, it is Marin Alsop who introduces Shaharazad and tells how Shaharzad decided to break the cycle of death initiated by her father for his young wives of one day, by becoming his wife (“The Thousand And One Nights”).

It is Muhsin Al Musawi who shares with the audience, the real spirit of this Arabian tale, by revealing that the title, One Thousand And One Nights, in Arabic has also a meaning, “endless” (“The Thousand And One Nights”). While, it is Marin Alsop who adds a fourth dimension to this narrative by conducting Rimsky-Korsakovs music composition, Scheherazade, on screen (“The Thousand And One Nights”). She has explained in this video, what is meant to be conveyed by this music piece (“The Thousand And One Nights”).

She has observed that, in this musical composition, it is the ability of Shaharzad to convert “an evil situation” into a pleasant one by moving the “unmovable” Shahariyar, the king (“The Thousand And One Nights”). Musawi appears in this video again to talk about the thrilled response that this tale evoked in the West as Gallant brought this tale to the West for the first time (“The Thousand And One Nights”). Towards the end of the video, Marin Alsop explains how this ancient Arabian tale becomes relevant to the modern world by presenting a “shared narrative” that has common threads in the whole of humanity (“The Thousand And One Nights”).

This video also has presented the tale, One Thousand And One Nights, in a new light by showing how many ways it has changed and defined the modern world. The video has observed that by providing space to other artists to reinterpret the original tales in innumerable ways, this tale has proven its high artistic merit and also by talking about human life in a comprehensive manner, has given a new paradigm for knowledge and wisdom to the modern world (“The Thousand And One Nights”). Works Cited “Invitation to World Literature”, learner.

org, Annenberg Foundation, 2011. Web. 19 November 2011. “The Thousand And One Nights”, Invitation to World Literature, learner.org, Washington DC, n.d.Television.