2004 Rumi Festival, Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

7th Annual Rumi Festival, http://www.rumifest.com

"Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, one of the most read and well known Persian poets and thinkers ... was born in Balkh (then Persia and now part of Afghanistan), on September 30, 1207. ... Rumi threw his prior theological knowledge into the fire, and plunged into the mystic knowledge of Love, Unity, and Humanity. His great book of mystical poetry the Mathnavi or Mesnavi, is considered the 'Persian Qur'an' in Iran. This year, the festival has a special emphasis, 'The Art of Rumi'."

Links of interest:
http://dilipb.smugmug.com/gallery/238688 (my pictures from 2003), and many sites about Rumi's poetry such as
http://www.rumi.net/ (using translations by Shahram Siva, whose stunning readings were my first exposure at the Sufi Festival in 1999 or 2000) and
http://www.khamush.com. The Rifa'i Marufi Order, which hosts this event here in the Triangle, has a "cybersufis" site, including pictures from the annual festivals at
http://www.cybersufis.org/photos .