Laibach
ALAMUT

// Video projections

Premiered on
5th & 6th of September 2022
Križanke, Ljubljana

In collaboration with a/political the music for the new Laibach symphonic work ALAMUT (inspired by the Vladimir Bartol's novel) was composed by Luka Jamnik (Laibach), Idin Samimi Mofakham and Nima A. Rowshan (both from Iran). Conducted by Navid Gohari, the work was premiered on 5th & 6th September 2022 at the Ljubljana Festival.

Alamut is an original symphonic work by Laibach based on a famous story from eleventh-century Persia, as told by the Slovene writer Vladimir Bartol in his novel of the same title published in 1938. The central character is Hassan-i Sabbāh, the charismatic religious and political leader of the Nizari Ismailis and the founder of a mysterious military formation known as the Assassins, whose name is still feared and respected today. Hassan-i Sabbāh is a self-proclaimed prophet who leads a holy war against the Seljuk Empire from his eyrie – the castle of Alamut. Alamut looked at mechanisms of propaganda at the time when Bartol, a Slovenian author, witnessed the rise of Fascism in Trieste, Italy, where he lived. In Laibach’s Alamut, the ideas of radical nihilism interweave with the classical Persian poetry of Omar Khayyam, the sensual verses of Mahsati Ganjavi blend with minimalist orchestral colours derived from Iranian tradition. Hassan-i Sabbāh’s propaganda mechanism are echoed in the industrial principle of the workings of the orchestra and Laibach’s unique approach of sound and visuals.