LIGHT MILLENNIUM in collaboration with the Columbia University Middle Eastern and Asian
Languages and Cultures and Middle East Institute
cordially invites you to:
YUNUS EMRE
CONTEMPORARY OF RUMI
TURKISH FOLK POET OF LOVE
A Poetry Presentation
by
Prof. TALAT HALMAN
Bilkent University, Ankara & the First Minister of Culture of the Republic of Turkey
followed by
Sacred Songs & Hymns of Yunus Emre CONCERT
Taoufiq Ben Amor
(oud),
Ismail Hakki Cimen (ney), Ahmet Erdogdular
and Amir Vahab (voice, percussion)
(voice, percussion)
- When love arrives, all needs and flaws are gone - I love you beyond the depths of my soul - I was born with divine love - Death is for beasts, it is not the Lover's destin y - I love you, so the hand of death can never t ouch me DATE: Monday, October 27, 2008
TIME: 7:00pm - 9:30pm
VENUE: Columbia University, International Affairs Building (IAB room 1501, 15th floor)
Located at 119th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Please use the 119th Street entrance
This live presentation will convey YUNUS EMRE’s love for humanity, social justice, and universal values. Since the late 13th and early
14th century until today, this mystic’s poems and hymns celebrate human and divine love and continue to issue eloquent calls for a
world living in peace and harmony. Yunus Emre was one of the first and most influential Turkish poets and Sufi philosophers. Unlike
Rumi who wrote in Persian, the literary language of the era, Yunus expressed himself in his native tongue, Turkish. His language is
direct and easy to understand, while his style is rich in Sufi metaphors. His verses are full of penetrating, humanistic and enthusiastic
feelings and ideas. According to his approach, everyone has a piece of God within himself; only the body dies and the soul reaches
God, if it has loved mankind and forgiven faults, endured pains and tried to learn the secrets, the reasons, and the forms of being.
Prof. Talat Halman is the principal scholar and translator of Yunus Emre's work. He published the first English language book on
Yunus Emre, "The Humanist Poetry of Yunus Emre" in 1971. This work was followed by “Yunus Emre and His Mystical Poetry" in
1981, and " Yunus Emre: Selected Poems" in 1990. In Turkey, he published a critical book on Yunus Emre in 2003. Prof. Halman
published 70 books and hundreds of articles in Turkish and English and gave hundreds of lectures in the United States, Turkey, and
many other countries.
Prof. Talat Halman served as the first Minister of Culture of the Turkish Republic. He served as Ambassador for Cultural Affairs
and Turkey’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the United Nations, and as an elected member of the UNESCO Executive Board.
Currently he is President of the UNICEF Turkish National Committee. For decades he was on the faculties of Columbia, Princeton,
UPenn and NYU. Since 1998, he has been serving as the Chairman of the Department of Turkish Literature at Bilkent, Turkey's
premier private university.
Producers: Bircan Ünver & Etem Erol
www.lightmillennium.org
RSVP: contact@lightmillennium.org Open to Public. Limited Seating.