Iranian Musical Group, Chehel Daf (40 Drums) to Perform in Konya

"Chehel Daf to Perform in Konya"

by Cultural Heritage News Agency [of Iran] December 4, 2005

Chehel Daf ensemble of Iran will be the first foreign group which will perform in commemoration of Rumi in Konya.

Tehran, 4 December 2005 (CHN) -- The music group of Chehel Daf, which plays traditional Iranian music, will perform as the first foreign music group in commemoration of Mowlana in Konya on 18th of December.

“Vocalist Behruz Tavakkoli will be singing songs from Rumi poems. Turkey’s Cultural attaché and ambassador to Iran saw a part of this program during Ramadan month and expressed his interest for our performance in the Konya program,” said Farshid Gharibnejad, head of the music group of Chehel Daf to CHN correspondent.

Mowlana, also known as Rumi, was a Muslim Sufi, poet, jurist, theologian and teacher of Sufism, who was born in Balkh, which was then a city of the Khorasan province of Iran and now is a part of Afghanistan, and died in Konya in today’s Turkey. His birth place and native tongue points towards a Persian heritage. He also wrote his poetry in Persian, and is read widely in Iran and Afghanistan where the language is spoken. Yet, he is adored to such a degree by citizens of the modern Turkey, Pakistan, and India that they sometimes consider him one of their own.

The general theme of his thoughts like that of the other mystic and Sufi poets of the Persian literature, is essentially about the concept of Unity and Union with his beloved from which he has been cut and fallen aloof, and his longing and desire for reunity.

Rumis’ major work is Masnavi-ye Manavi (Spiritual Couplets), a six-volume poem regarded by many Sufis as second in importance only to the holy Quran. It is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of mystical poetry.

The dance moves related to Sufism and Whirling Dervishes which is called Sama is a part of the inspiration of Mowlana as well as part of the Turkish custom, history, beliefs and culture. Sama represents a mystical journey of man’s spiritual ascent through mind and love to Perfect. The dance was recently registered as one of the world’s oral intangible heritage.

Every year the poet’s lovers from all around the world gather at his tomb in Konya city on his death anniversary and perform some programs in his commemoration including poem citing and Sama dances.