Balm

By Mohammed Wajihuddin /TNN, "'Sufism can be a balm for the pain caused by terrorists'" - The Times Of India - Mumbai, India
Saturday, November 22, 2008

Mumbai: He likens music to a knife-it's up to us how we use it. "A knife can be used to cut an apple and also to slit somebody's throat,'' laughs Yasine El-Tohami, one of the Arab world's most popular Sufi singer-musicians.

El-Tohami is part of ‘Ruhaniyat'-the two-day (November 23-24) annual Sufi-mystic music festival at Horniman Circle Garden at Fort.

El-Tohami and his group belt out the soothing Sufi tunes in these times of terror. "Sufism can be a balm for the wounds and pain caused by terrorists,'' explains the 59-year-old El-Tohami, sitting at a south Mumbai hotel room. Though he doesn't specify any particular Indian mystic gurus as his inspiration, the globe-trotting El-Tohami says visiting India "is a spiritual journey''.

Coming from Assyout, 400 km from south of Cairo (Egypt), El-Tohami says he is influenced by several Arab Sufi giants, including Ibn Arabi, Al-Hallaj and Omar Ibnul Farid.
Accompanied by musicians on instruments like oudh, trumpet, flute and drums, the singer creates haunting tunes.

Interestingly, El-Tohami was educated at Al-Azhar University, Islamic world's most famous seminary which supports an orthodox interpretation of Islam. Before he could go deep into the academic aspect of Islam, El-Tohami felt pulled by the invisible forces of spiritualism and mysticism. Sufism, which considers music an integral part of path to reach the divine, is a taboo in orthodox Islam and most ulema preach a distancing from it.

But Sufism, claims El-Tohami, is not divisive. "Its message is inclusive and goes beyond the barriers of religions and nationalities,'' says the singer.

Coming from a country which produced Umm Kulsum (1904-1975), Arab world's most famous singer-writer, El-Tohami regrets he never met the much-adored singer who had influenced a generation of singers, including Bob Dylan and Maria Callas.

"I grew up listening to Umm Kulsum. I was supposed to meet her the day she died in Cairo. Her matchless voice still rings in my ears,'' raves El-Tohami whose father was also a Sufi-saint in his own right.

Other singers participating in Ruhaniyat include Siddhi-Goma group (Africa), Parvathy Baul (Bengal), Latif Bolat (Turkey), Hyderabad's Warsi Brothers and Jaipur's Shameem-Nayeem.

[Picture from Yassin El-Tohami's website.Visit the Artist at http://www.yassintohamy.com].