Poetry for the Soul
Welcome to The Great Night of Rumi and his Soul Friends, a place to hear inspired presentations of the poetry of Rumi and other Soul Poets like WB Yeats, Mary Oliver, Kabir, and Rilke
This site is a collection of recordings of The Great Night of Rumi, The Great Night of Soul Poetry and The Great Night of Rumi and his Soul Friends produced by Dan and Dale Zola between 1995 and 2012 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The events featured soulful presentations of poetry accompanied by improvised music.
Rumi poem presented by Ray Gatchalian
“One of the rules of The Great Night of Rumi is that all poems are spoken from memory. We have been producing the show for the last 13 years and we have found that when the presenters speak the poems, ‘by heart,’ it creates an aliveness and beauty that is unique.”
Dale Zola, Producer and Performer
“I experienced The Great Night of Rumi as a banquet for my soul. The songs, the poetry, the instruments, the dance, came to me as an invitation to take a deep breath and celebrate the gift of life. I did so not in theory, but in my heart and returned home ready to affirm another day.”