Welcome to the Siwan website Siwan is a musical orchestral project initiated and composed by Jon Balke, and developed in cooperation with singer and musicologist Amina Alaoui. The live version is now with Tunesian singer Lamia Bedoui and Kheir Eddine M'Kachiche fronting an ensemble of 16 musicians, including Barokksolistene, a group of early music players, led by Bjarte Eike. Siwan was commissoned by Cosmopolite, Oslo's legendary multicultural stage, for its 15 year jubilee in september 2007. Siwan has been performed in Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Cairo , Berlin, Vestfoldfestspillene, and Detmold, and is booked for numerous festivals in Europe in 2011 and 2012. Listen to John Schaefer´s 28 october edition of “New sounds”(US public radio) playing from Siwan http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/2010/oct/28/shapeimage_2_link_0