This week will mark the beginning of the eighth Konya International Mystic Music Festival, a spiritual celebration of music taking place in the serene shadows of the tomb of the great Sufi mystic and poet Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi in the central Anatolian city of Konya.
An eight-day melting pot of mystical music from around the world, this year’s festival will feature nine groups from across the world -- from Tibet, India, the US, Morocco, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Turkey and Tajikistan.
Drawing to a close on the 804th anniversary of the great mystic’s birth on Sept. 30, the festival will present concerts at 9 p.m. every night at the Konya Municipality Mevlana Culture Center’s Sultan Veled Hall and Sema Hall. Admission will be free of charge.
Featured amongst the ensembles this year are West African drumming group Guinee Percussions from Guinea, a 13-member dance and music ensemble that will perform on the opening night on Sept. 22.
Gnawa musician Maâlem Hamid El Kasri from Morocco is set to take to the stage on Friday evening and Saturday will see a performance by Indian bansuri virtuoso Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. The 73-year-old has composed a number of film scores and collaborated with several Western musicians, including Jan Garbarek and John McLaughlin.
Other acts set to perform include the Afro-American gospel group The Fairfield Four, spiritual Buddhist ensemble Monks of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery from Tibet, the Tengir Too group from Kyrgyzstan, Tajik musician Davlatmand Kholov specializing in rural Falak music and ensemble Parissa from Iran.
The festival will draw to a fitting close on Friday evening with a sema, or whirling dervish ceremony, courtesy of the Konya Turkish Sufi Music Ensemble.
Program at www.mysticmusicfest.com
Picture: Kyrgyz group Tengir Too. Photo: TZ.
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