"Dalrymple finds Sufism’s maverick soul in music"
Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan in Delhi Newsline at cities.expressindia.com
New Delhi, December 16:
Sufi music has always attracted the mavericks, the artists and anyone with a slight rebellion within their soul, because it breathes the unconventional by going against fundamentalists interpretations of Islam that music has no place in worshipping God.
Author William Dalrymple says he discovered this and more during the filming of his movie Sufi Soul, which premiered at the British Council here on Thursday.
Dalrymple travelled across South Asia — from Morocco and Turkey to Pakistan and India — finding out about this religion. The hour-long film covers quite a few aspects of Sufism — the whirling dervishes inspired by the poet and Sufi saint Rumi, the underground Sufis in Istanbul who have been forbidden to practice, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his nephew Rahat and even the qawwali sessions in the Nizamuddin Dargah.
‘‘Originally I wanted a whole series,’’ said Dalrymple in a discussion with Pavan Varma, director, ICCR,‘‘I especially wanted to do Iran and Egypt, but there were budget constraints.’’
The movie also premiered in London, under Channel 4, about three months ago, which was followed by a three-day Sufi music festival. ‘‘I obviously couldn’t say all that I wanted to,’’ said Dalrymple, ‘‘It’s an hour-long film made for English audiences, basically to show them that there is more to Islam than terrorism.’’
But the movie touches on another aspect as well — showing the conflict between the fundamentalist Muslims and the ‘open-to-all’ Sufis. ‘‘It varies from place to place,’’ said the filmmaker. ‘There is an almost complete wiping out of Sufis in the North-West frontier, but in my opinion there are more people now on Thursday nights in Nizamuddin than there have ever been,’’ he added
Does he plan on making any more films? ‘‘We’ve put in a proposal to do part two of this movie,’’ said Dalrymple, ‘‘Plus I also want to do another movie devoted to Rumi.’’
Sunday, January 08, 2006
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Sunday, January 08, 2006
Dalrymple finds Sufism’s maverick soul in music, as seen in his film, Sufi Soul
"Dalrymple finds Sufism’s maverick soul in music"
Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan in Delhi Newsline at cities.expressindia.com
New Delhi, December 16:
Sufi music has always attracted the mavericks, the artists and anyone with a slight rebellion within their soul, because it breathes the unconventional by going against fundamentalists interpretations of Islam that music has no place in worshipping God.
Author William Dalrymple says he discovered this and more during the filming of his movie Sufi Soul, which premiered at the British Council here on Thursday.
Dalrymple travelled across South Asia — from Morocco and Turkey to Pakistan and India — finding out about this religion. The hour-long film covers quite a few aspects of Sufism — the whirling dervishes inspired by the poet and Sufi saint Rumi, the underground Sufis in Istanbul who have been forbidden to practice, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his nephew Rahat and even the qawwali sessions in the Nizamuddin Dargah.
‘‘Originally I wanted a whole series,’’ said Dalrymple in a discussion with Pavan Varma, director, ICCR,‘‘I especially wanted to do Iran and Egypt, but there were budget constraints.’’
The movie also premiered in London, under Channel 4, about three months ago, which was followed by a three-day Sufi music festival. ‘‘I obviously couldn’t say all that I wanted to,’’ said Dalrymple, ‘‘It’s an hour-long film made for English audiences, basically to show them that there is more to Islam than terrorism.’’
But the movie touches on another aspect as well — showing the conflict between the fundamentalist Muslims and the ‘open-to-all’ Sufis. ‘‘It varies from place to place,’’ said the filmmaker. ‘There is an almost complete wiping out of Sufis in the North-West frontier, but in my opinion there are more people now on Thursday nights in Nizamuddin than there have ever been,’’ he added
Does he plan on making any more films? ‘‘We’ve put in a proposal to do part two of this movie,’’ said Dalrymple, ‘‘Plus I also want to do another movie devoted to Rumi.’’
Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan in Delhi Newsline at cities.expressindia.com
New Delhi, December 16:
Sufi music has always attracted the mavericks, the artists and anyone with a slight rebellion within their soul, because it breathes the unconventional by going against fundamentalists interpretations of Islam that music has no place in worshipping God.
Author William Dalrymple says he discovered this and more during the filming of his movie Sufi Soul, which premiered at the British Council here on Thursday.
Dalrymple travelled across South Asia — from Morocco and Turkey to Pakistan and India — finding out about this religion. The hour-long film covers quite a few aspects of Sufism — the whirling dervishes inspired by the poet and Sufi saint Rumi, the underground Sufis in Istanbul who have been forbidden to practice, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his nephew Rahat and even the qawwali sessions in the Nizamuddin Dargah.
‘‘Originally I wanted a whole series,’’ said Dalrymple in a discussion with Pavan Varma, director, ICCR,‘‘I especially wanted to do Iran and Egypt, but there were budget constraints.’’
The movie also premiered in London, under Channel 4, about three months ago, which was followed by a three-day Sufi music festival. ‘‘I obviously couldn’t say all that I wanted to,’’ said Dalrymple, ‘‘It’s an hour-long film made for English audiences, basically to show them that there is more to Islam than terrorism.’’
But the movie touches on another aspect as well — showing the conflict between the fundamentalist Muslims and the ‘open-to-all’ Sufis. ‘‘It varies from place to place,’’ said the filmmaker. ‘There is an almost complete wiping out of Sufis in the North-West frontier, but in my opinion there are more people now on Thursday nights in Nizamuddin than there have ever been,’’ he added
Does he plan on making any more films? ‘‘We’ve put in a proposal to do part two of this movie,’’ said Dalrymple, ‘‘Plus I also want to do another movie devoted to Rumi.’’
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