Constantinople, the urban centre of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire, was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) on the site of an existing city named Byzantium. With its excellent strategic situation at the borders of Europe and Asia, of West and East, it grew to be Europe's largest and wealthiest city throughout the Middle Ages. For nearly five centuries, from 1453-1922, it was the imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire, and in 1930 it was officially renamed Istanbul. For over 2000 years all manner of races, cultures and religions coexisted peacefully here. But after Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453, Christians, Jews and Moslems were all subjects and servants of the Ottoman ruler.

At almost the same time, Alfonso the Wise drove the Jews and Moslems out of Spain as part of the reconquista, and this and the Inquisition led to the end of harmonious relations between the three big religions in Europe. As a result, Istanbul not only became the centre of the Ottoman Empire, but also the cultural epicentre of the Orient. Musicians and poets, whether they were Persian, Arab, Greek, Armenian, Indian or Jewish, were all equally welcome at the Sultan's court. The outcome was a magical melodic amalgam, e.g. when Sephardic Jews combined their ritual Hebrew texts with Sufi songs, or when Christian composers and musicians like Zaharya taught Ottoman music in the harem.

This was indeed the golden age of symbiosis of widely differing cultures under the sign of the crescent moon. Tolerance and respect amongst the three great religions, music for the one god, be he Our Lord, Jehovah or Allah, were taken for granted. All three religions shared the prophet David, who forged a link between the different spiritual traditions in this cultural melting pot.

All these aspects are presented to exemplary effect on this CD. There are psalm settings by Goudimell and Grandi, sacred Moslem songs, so-called ilahis devoted to the prophet David and his story, as well as maftirim – hymns that were sung in the synagogues of Istanbul. We also hear psalms nos. 1, 2, 5, 8 and 10 from the 16th century Genevan Psalter, which were introduced to the Ottoman/Islamic cultural region by Ali Ufkî (Wojciech Bobowski) in a transcription translated into Turkish. Ufkî took a total of 14 psalms from the Genevan Psalter, which was published in 1565, and translated them into Turkish. For a long time these were believed to be original compositions by Ali Ufkî, and people played them in the style of Islamic music, unaware that the the "Goudimell psalms" were of Christian origin. Ali Ufkî alias Wojciech Bobowski was a Polish Huguenot who was sold to the Sultan's seraglio as a slave, later converted to Islam and became a link between East and West thanks to his work as a composer and linguist. Once again, art and music proved to be a solid meeting-place for the three monotheistic religions. Our aim with this CD is to forge a new harmonious link between European sacred music and the Turkish-Ottoman musical tradition, and to not only cultivate this exchange on an intellectual and philosophical level, but also to put it into musical practice and thus realise anew Ali Ufkî's dream.