An Intimate Atmosphere

By Piyasree Dasgupta, "Mystic Melange" - Express India, Kolkata Newsline - Kolkata, India
Thursday, November 20, 2008

Ruhaniyat 2008 will introduce the city to Turkish and Egyptian versions of Sufi music

To a generation hooked on to the hybrid Sufi strains that abound Bollywood today, Latif Bolat’s brand of music might be a little surprising, unexpected even.

Because the Turkish singer hardly deviates from the ancient mystic discipline of Betakshi Sufiana, a venerated Turkish classic. However, redemption is close at hand, as Bolat’s strains of Sufiana are all set to waft into the city, this month.

The eighth edition of Ruhaniyat, which travels to the city, for the second time, has roped in several stalwarts of music and mysticism who otherwise are quite lost on the humdrum of urban pursuits.

“Most of these artistes are very rooted in the rural traditions. In fact villages are the seats of Sufi music. We have tried to familiarise them with an urban audience and vice versa,” says Manoj Babu, creative director of Banyan Tree Events, which has been organising Ruhaniyat.

In fact, Ruhaniyat was started with the motive to revive Sufi music in the cities which were being misled by the watered down, remixed popular versions. So from bauls to qawwalis, and from Turkey to Egypt, Ruhaniyat has handpicked the most interesting performers from the several genres of Sufi music.

Apart from the staple Sufi Kalam compositions to be performed by a group from Rajasthan, Kolkata will be treated to Jagar by artistes from Uttaranchal. Jagar usually revolves around penance and is performed during the nights. Local ballads and references to epics comprise this form which increases in tempo in course of the performance and reaches a feverish pitch, which culminates in frenzied dance movements.

“It is believed that Jagar was traditionally performed to invoke the spirit of a dead in a living person’s body,” says a representative of Banyan Tree Events.

Bolat and Arabic Sufi performer Mohammad Farghaly from Egypt are the star attractions of Ruhaniyat this year.

“While Bolat sticks to ancient Turkish mysticism, he also relates the same with contemporary society and politics,” says Babu. Bolat, now based in the US, is known to create an intimate atmosphere embarking on a storytelling process explaining the sociopolitical elements of Turkish folk traditions.

Ruhaniyat will be held at the Tollygunge Club on November 29

[Visit Latif Bolat's website and listen to samples of his music http://www.latifbolat.com/].