About the project

The emblem of the scientific and educational project was the seven-pointed star of the heptatonic scale from the Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform treatise CBS 1766 from the mid-second millennium. As a circle of fourths, it represented the interval relationships in the tuning of the ancient lyre, and the work itself remained unfinished, symbolizing for us the eternal pursuit of complete knowledge. Western Asia became a centrifugal force for the dissemination of knowledge, the cradle of music theory, and the source of musical professionalism.

A miniature from Qiṣaṣ al-Anbīyah ("Stories of the Prophets," 15th century, Baghdad or Tabriz) visualizes the concept of Abrahamic traditions in the unity of images of Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, seated in the foreground, surrounded by his family and the muezzin Bilal ibn Rabah. Moses strikes Og's ("Uj") heel with his staff , sweeping away the Antediluvian past with its thinking, laws, and aesthetic preferences — all are negated, acquiring new meanings. Distinguished by his growth and action against the backdrop of motionless prophets, he symbolizes the bonds of the Abrahamic traditions, their unity amidst cultural diversity. The figures of Mary and Jesus recall their veneration in all three religions.

The concept of Abrahamic traditions points to the systemic notions of ethics and law manifested in music and is not limited to religious or secular forms of music-making. Music in culture, as a means of meaning-making, distinguishes one people from another and unites them into larger communities. Our goal is to understand the foundations of diversity and unity in music as a unique language that transcends borders and barriers of misunderstanding.