Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

You would be forgiven for failing to derive anything positive from the title of Maya Youssef's latest album, ″Syrian Dreams″. After all, now in the seventh year of a vicious conflict, isn′t Syria more the stuff of nightmares? Youssef pushes back against the prevailing image, providing a glimmer of hope. Review by Richard Marcus More

All his life Johann Wolfgang von Goethe felt a strong connection with Persia. Not only did he feel a spiritual affinity with the poet Hafez, he was also inspired and fascinated by the teachings and practices of Zarathustra, who lived in the first millennium before Christ. Melanie Christina Mohr reportsMore

Syrian playwright and dramatist Wael Kadour came of age in Damascus a decade before the revolution. His plays speak of life in his home country and social tensions across the Middle East. Interview by Laura CappelleMore

The German electronic music band Schiller is famous worldwide. Its recent visit to Tehran was without doubt one of the concert highlights of post-revolutionary Iran – even though some audience members began to show signs of fatigue halfway through the concert. By Shahram AhadiMore

In his novel "Istanbul Istanbul", Burhan Sönmez describes the fate of four political prisoners, for whom telling stories in their shared cell becomes a passion. It enables them to retain a scrap of dignity in the face of torture and inhumanity. By Volker KaminskiMore

German-Iranian director Ali Soozandeh says that he made the film "Tehran Taboo" in order to "break the silence". In doing so, however, he has sketched a portrait of Iran that is almost unbearable, especially for the critical viewer with a knowledge of Iran, says Massoud Schirazi More

Juxtaposing songs in Arabic with others in Spanish and Ladino, Norwegian composer and musician Jon Balke has spent the last ten years experimenting with the music of Muslim Andalusia. Releasing their first album in 2009, he and Siwan are now back with "Nahnou Houm". Review by Richard MarcusMore

Palestinian artist and poet Farid Bitar's work was recently included in Smokestack Books' "A Blade of Grass: New Palestinian Poetry", edited by Naomi Foyle. One of the 60 people allowed to enter the Gaza strip for a few hours during the Gaza Freedom March in 2009, Bitar talks to Valentina Viene about his activism and his art More

Nadir Bouhmouch, director of the ground-breaking web documentary series ″Paradises of the earth″, talks about the inception of the project and the urgency of telling North African stories More