"The Dream of Ibn Hamdis" is the recording work of the Shulùq Ensemble, a tribute to the peoples and cultures of the Mediterranean through music. The "Mare Nostrum" is an ideal place where it is possible the coexistence of past, present and future, as well as the coexistence of values, ideals and dreams of the people who live there. "Shulùq" is the transliteration of the Arabic name for the wind Scirocco (the south wind). So the Shulùq Ensemble is the symbol of this "wind", the breath of the Mediterranean, and by extension the very soul of Mare Nostrum, a bridge made of sounds, rhythms, harmonies and common emotions that bring together all the inhabitants of its coasts. The Shulùq Ensemble is composed of excellent musicians and composers of international renown: Calogero Giallanza (flutes), Salim Dada (guitar, kwitra, voice) Andrea Piccioni (percussion) with the participation of Karima Skalli (voice). Coming from various musical worlds: classical European, Arabic and North African, baroque and jazz, the Ensemble plays original music composed and inspired by the poems of IbnHamdis, an Arab-Sicilian poet of the twelfth century (1056-1133). Having left Sicily following the Norman conquest, the poet continued throughout his life as an exile to sing of his homeland as a lost paradise. Union of different civilizations, Greek-Roman and Arab-Muslim. These are the roots of the project The dream of Ibn Hamdis: a research that wants to follow and find, during the last millennium, the thread of a specific artistic discourse, towards the Mediterranean, a "bridge" made of harmonies, sounds, rhythms and common sensibility, a poetic-musical "mare nostrum", peaceful and generous, "the last gift of the only Mediterranean civilization". An aspiration to a better world, both desired and sought after, sometimes at the cost of the lives of thousands of migrants who cross, fleeing towards a desperate exile of freedom and salvation, but also often tragically, towards a destiny of broken and scattered lives.

Calogero Giallanza, born in Naso (Sicily - Italy), he graduated at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He is very active as flutist and composer in Italy and abroad. He has recorded numerous CDs and made recordings for television and radio networks. He has been awarded important prizes and awards. In 2013 and 2019 he was appointed, for artistic merits: "Knight and Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ", by the Presidents of the Italian Republic: Giorgio Napolitano and Sergio Mattarella.

Salim Dada, He is a prolific composer (more than 120 symphonic works, chamber music, Arabic takht, musico f film, theater, ballet, guitar, solos,...), musician-poly-instrumentalist (guitar, ud, kwitra, buzuq, ukulele, voice, percussion...), researcher musicologist at CNRPAH-Algiers and at the University of Paris- Sorbonne. He is a conductor (founder of the Youth Orchestra of Algeria). He is preparing a doctoral thesis in ethnomusicology on "Al-Adhan: the call to prayer in Islam" at the University of Paris-Sorbonne (IReMus).

Andrea Piccioni, defined by the magazine "Musica Jazz" as an "Absolute Master of frame drums", has crossed with his style the boundaries of jazz, world and classical music, collaborating with countless artists

Karima Skalli, she shone at the Arab Music Festival and the Cairo Opera Conference in 1999, followed by numerous Arab and International Festivals in Europe, the United States and the Middle East and in the Arab Maghereb, Morocco in primis, alongside great Arab and International musicians, resulting in many CDs during her career: Wasla, Makam el Houb, Leila, etc. In addition, Karima Skalli has had many tributes in the Arab world for her beautiful voice, her talent, her performances and her humanitarian and spiritual commitment.