Singers to come together for Sufi music festival in Jaipur

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/RAJ-JPR-singers-to-come-together-for-sufi-music-festival-in-jaipur-3858202-NOR.htmlDaily Baskhar, 26 October 2012

Jaipur: Sufi singers from various parts of the globe are all set to perform in the annual world Sufi music festival 'Jahan-e-Khusrau' to be held here next month.

"The artists performing this year at Jahan e Khusrau in Jaipur on October 27 and 28 are -Abida Parveen (Pakistan), Whirling Dervishes (Turkey), Shafaqat Ali Khan (Pakistan), Zia Nath (Indian modern dancer)," said Muzaffar Ali, director of the festival.

The event is being organised jointly by the tourism department of Rajasthan and Rumi Foundation.

Each year, Jahan-e-Khusrau presents rare lyrics of Sufi mystics in an innovative form.

Over the last decade it has showcased Sufi singers, dancers and musicians from different parts of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Iran, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Italy, Sudan, Egypt, Greece, Germany, Japan, USA and Canada, a release said.

India-Russia cultural fiesta Oct 24-Nov 4

India-Russia cultural fiesta Oct 24-Nov 4 Times of India, IANS Oct 16, 2012

NEW DELHI: Cultural ties between India and Russia have got a boost with the signing of a protocol between both the countries for a festival to be held Oct 24- Nov 4 in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai.
The pact was signed by Indian Council For Cultural Relations (ICCR) Director General Suresh Goel and Russian Deputy Minister of Cultural Relations A. Busygin at Azad Bhavan late Monday evening.
"The Russian festival of culture is a response to the Indian artists and officials who visited Russia in 2011 for a similar festival. Russia will host yet another festival of Indian culture in 2013 as a reciprocal gesture," Goel said.
The copy of the pact made available said Russia will bring to India "soloists from the Bolshoi, Marinsky and Mikhailovsky Theatres, St Petersburg folk ensemble 'Barynya'" - the troupe of the Russian Academic Youth Theatre and a photography exhibition.
The festival will end with a ballet gala at Siri Fort Nov 1.
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations will provide hospitality to 65 artists during the festival.
"We will get several high quality groups from Russia. An exhibition of art and photographs is an important aspect of the festival because it will connect Russian art to the Roerich estate (in Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh)," Goel told IANS.
The Roerich estate in Himachal Pradesh has 8,000 artifacts, including 37 rare paintings by the Russian painter-thinker, who settled in India to paint Himalayan landscapes.
The ICCR has several international festivals on its agenda this year and the next to bolster cultural ties with countries like Germany, Australia and Canada, the director general said.
"We are trying out several new initiatives in cross-cultural exchanges to create a common language," Goel said.
"At the opening of the Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) Oct 26, we will get Qawaal groups from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and host them with dervishes (Sufi dancers) from Turkey at the Purana Qila. The two things that India shares with South Asia and West Asia are Sufism and qawaalis," he said.
Sufism has developed in each country in different ways, he said.
The director general said that "the Russian festival was also a similar initiative to explore the connections and commonalities between the cultures of India and Russia, both of which have rich cultural inheritances".

Abida Parveen live in Dubai

Review: Abida Parveen live in Dubai

The Pakistani Sufi singer treats fans to an evening of truth and peace

By Anupa Kurian, Readers Editor. Published: 12:26 September 29, 2012 in Tabloid

What is the word you seek when you encounter a glimpse of divinity in the sea of human imperfection?

Haq or truth.

What do the desert sands reveal when they rise and move mountains? The wind blows bright, the sun humbles, thirst destroys and bares the core. And from that stripped down center arises the truth of Sufism.

Abida Parveen is one of the greatest exponents of this truth in our time. So, a review — this is not. It would be too presumptuous an attempt.

She sang for an hour and forty minutes on Friday evening to a crowd of enthusiasts, who drank in every word of her performance with the thirst of a drought-ridden earth.

The sound quality failed her but she performed with the transcendence of one whose calling is to spread the message of peace.

She opened with Man Kunto Maula Ali from Amir Khusro’s pen, 700 years on and the magic of one of India’s greatest poets still reigns. Yaar Ko Hamne Ja Baja Dekha, which essentially translates to wherever I look I see the work of God, followed this, and Sindh’s (Pakistan) legendary Sufi teacher Baba Bulleshah’s Mere Ishq Na Chahiya.

Originally from Sindh, Abida started training at the age of three. She performs in Urdu, Seraiki, Punjabi, Hindi and Sindhi.

The evening ended with Chaap Tilak, Amir Khusro’s praise to his guide Nizammuddin Auliya followed by Laal Shahbaz Qalander. The dervishes’ message of unity, equality and purity of path stays true in Abida.

Capital’s own sufi ghazal band 

By Cris, September 10, 2012

 

White sheets were spread out on the floor at an apartment in Pattom. Performers and music lovers kneeled down for a quiet evening of ghazal music. “Ghazal music through Sufism,” corrects Manu Thampy, a singer for the evening. And one for the band Mehfil formed by four ghazal lovers who happened to cross each other’s paths.

“It was all by chance. I was hoping to get some guidance in ghazal singing when I was introduced to Hussain Ali Sayed, a teacher at the Kendriya Vidyalaya School here. He was a Sufi singer in Rajasthan,” says Manu.
Hussain who heard Manu sing was impressed enough to suggest the idea of forming a band for ghazal music through Sufism.
“It is called Kalaam-e-ghazal ka sufiyana andaaz. Sufi music is all about expressing your devotion for God through your singing,” says Hussain as he runs his fingers through the harmonium. Hussain brought another crucial member for the band – Murali Menon, who can handle three instruments with ease – sitar, mohana veena and violin.
“He had worked in Rajasthan for 13 years. That’s where he picked up lessons in sitar and mohana veena, so he performs in a North Indian Style. Even the violin, he had learnt in Hindustani style,” says Manu. On a typical day, Murali Menon would set the mood by interpreting a raga. The others would then join him – Manu and Hussain with their rendering and Jithu on the tabala.
Jithu Oommen Thomas is the youngest member of the group, and a student of airport management at Bangalore. He would come down to Thiruvananthapuram when there is a performance. He has performed with even the great Ghulam Ali. Time and distance however have never posed a problem to these musicians.
Manu who works in the health service department and Murali Menon who is employed at the NABARD make it a point to come together for the occasional performance and practice sessions in Thiruvananthapuram.
The next performance of Mehzil will be held on September 12 as part of Hindi Day celebrations at Hotel Mascot.

Sufism’s message of tolerance has universal relevance: Sherry

Sufism’s message of tolerance has universal relevance: Sherry Pakistan Today 28 Sep 2012

WASHINGTON - Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman told an American audience at a cultural event on Saturday night that Sufism embraces the spirit of tolerance and inclusion, and its message is increasingly relevant in this age of competing ideologies.
She was speaking at the Smithsonian Institute, where popular Pakistani Sufi singer Sanam Marvi gave a mesmerizing performance, attended by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar.The new US ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson, senior American officials and a large number of Pakistani and American followers of the mystic poetry and music attended the performance by the acclaimed singer. In her remarks, sherry made it clear that Sufism was not a sect of Islam. “Its practice encapsulates the very essence of our faith,” the Pakistani envoy said.
“For over a decade now,” she said, “we have seen the marketplace of global ideas distorted by new walls of hatred and prejudice... This negativity causes many to lose hope in the project of peaceful civilizations, that instead of clashing, nurture the best in humanity.”
She told the audience that Pakistan’s founding father, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, actively advocated a plural model of citizenship, asserting that all Pakistani citizens shall enjoy the same rights and privileges, regardless of their religious affiliation.
Sherry explained to the attentive audience the message of Sufism as she observed that “being grounded in the mystical connection between the individual and the divine, Sufism embraces the spirit of tolerance and inclusion in both its discourse and practice”.
“This is one of the reasons why Sufi saints played a central role in the spread of Islam, especially in South Asia, making it the second biggest and the most practiced religion in the world,” she added.
“The Sufi doctrine is simple and universal, that the light of God abides in the heart of each person. The Sufi ‘tariqa’ or the Sufi way guides us on the roads of the inner journey towards discovering the self, for the ultimate goal of reaching the divine light and wisdom that each one of us carries within.”
“What could, indeed, be a more appropriate and opportune time to think and reflect about the message of unity, peace, togetherness and patience exemplified by the life and teachings of Sufi saints and their philosophy of life?” the ambassador stressed.

Screening of film on ‘Sufi Soul: Mystic Music of Islam’

Pakistan Observer, City reporter, September 19 2012

Islamabad—The Institute for Preservation of Art and Culture (IPAC) has arranged screening of the film “Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam” here on September 18 to highlight the traditions of Sufism.

The film screening will be held at Kuch Khaas, Center for Arts, Culture and Dialogue. In this documentary film the acclaimed historian and travel writer William Dalrymple explores Sufism and its music in different parts of the Islamic world, including Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, and Morocco.

Music lies at the heart of the practice and traditions of Sufism- the mystical dimension of Islam that seeks to experience oneness with God on an intimate, personal level. From the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey to the qawwali music of Pakistan, Sufism has produced some of the world’s most spectacular music celebrated by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. 

Sanam Marvi, a crusader of Sufi tradition

 

Sanam Marvi, a crusader of Sufi tradition 

by Sher Khan The Express Tribune 23 August 2012

LAHORE:  After her brilliant renditions on “Coke Studio”, Sanam Marvi has proven that she has a timeless and legendary voice. In a small home on the periphery of Lahore, Marvi is only concerned about one thing – music. In an interview with The Express Tribune, she shares some insight about her music and the message she aims to spread. Marvi sees herself as a crusader of the Sufi tradition, lending a voice to it through her songs.

“My goal is to spread the message of Islam and truth,” says Marvi. Lately, her Sufi-qawwal music has spread far and wide with vocal appearances in Bollywood films such as London Paris New York and The Dirty Picture. She is also routinely invited to Sufi festivals and has toured France and Morocco with plans to go to the United States as well.
Sufi music seems to be entering the mainstream today and the reason for that, Marvi explains, are initiatives such as the popular classical music show “Virsa Heritage Revived” broadcast on PTV and “Coke Studio” which have spread awareness and sparked an interest among the public for Sufi music. Marvi says she holds immense respect for Rohail Hyatt, whose work she feels has been mystically inspired.
She also has great admiration for the host of the “Virsa Heritage” show, the well-known socialite and cultural icon from Lahore, Mian Yousuf Salahuddin. Marvi refers to him as a father figure who she feels has done a lot to promote the Sufi tradition.
“I think the most important thing is spreading the Sufi kalam,” says Marvi, explaining that her father was a Sufi singer. “That is my focus – spreading the kalam to all corners of the world wherever my voice leads me.”
Recent projects
Marvi recently collaborated with Lahore based pop-rock band Symt on “Coke Studio” and tested her vocals in a more modern sounding track, “Koi Labda”.  The single has become one of the most addictive tracks of the season.
“Koi Labda” is an intriguing track as it portrays Marvi in a completely different kind of vocal light and style, accompanying the vocal prowess of Symt’s Haroon Shahid. “I didn’t know I was going to be in the song, so it was kind of a surprise,” says Marvi. “It was very different, Rohail bhai told me to try singing this song and try singing it in a new style and make it seem as my own, so I tried to show that I could do these songs too.”
Speaking more about the importance of her venture, Marvi states, “Modern music is how younger audiences will connect with the Sufi kalam. My son who is quite young is already singing ‘Koi Labda’, and that’s what this is all about – having music for all ages.”
Her more recent project is a collaboration with Mekaal Hasan, which is scheduled to release soon. Hasan is producing a song which will feature Marvi alongside a group of international musicians.
She has also lent her voice to songs in various collaborative Sufi music albums released in India. One such popular track is “Mera Tumba” by which Marvi contributed to the album Teri Rehmatein.
“In India, there was not much interest in Sufi music a while back but that has changed. People there now enjoy this music so much that each song of mine is stuck in their minds,” says Marvi.  “I think that it’s a positive thing that interest is growing,” she concludes optimistically.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2012.

Representing a different face of Islam

Representing a different face of Islam
 By Jim Quilty, The Daily Star, August 18 2012

BEIRUT: The foyer of NOK Yoga Shala is littered with shoes. You wonder whether this is indeed a footwear-free affair. The young woman lingering nearby smiles in confirmation.
This space, it seems, is ordinarily devoted to the practice of yoga. This evening, however, it is hosting a promotional event for the documentary “Wajd – Music Politics and Ecstasy.”
One part autobiographical tale of discovery, one part history lesson-cum-polite interrogation of Islam, “Wajd” is the work of Syrian-Canadian writer-director Amar Chebib. There might seem some incongruity between the event and the space hosting it – in that “Yoga = Hinduism, Islam = well, Islam” sort of way.
Appearances are informative, but they aren’t everything.
During the half-hourlong rough cut of “Wajd” screened this evening, the filmmaker informs his audience that he was raised Muslim and drifted away from the faith, unable to reconcile facets of Muslim practice with his own belief system.
A couple of years ago he decided to give Islam another shot, returning to Syria to study Arabic. During this rapprochement he become a student of Ottoman classical music, which underlined his feelings of dissonance.
Conservative readings of Islam have determined that the Prophet disapproved of music – confusing for a student of a tradition with a strong devotional component. Another sore point for Chebib is his religion’s attitudes toward women – which to many Western eyes makes women look less equal than men.
“Wajd” is hardly an ad hominem attack on Islam. The message that emerges from the doc’s putative inquiry is that the militant versions of Islam that dominate news coverage, much documentary and blockbuster feature-film production, particularly since 2001, aren’t the summation of the faith.
The “other” Islam, the real subject of the film, is the Sufi mystical tradition that has followed in the wake of the 13th-century Iranian poet and theologian remembered as Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi.
It so happens that the questions Chebib asks are precisely the ones that trouble Western intellectuals who would quite like to like Islam, but have been challenged by events in the last decade or so.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, “Muslim” terms like “Taliban,” “jihadist,” “Salafist” and “Ikhwan” have become synonymous in the Western consciousness with militant bigotry.
While it doesn’t exclude curious audiences from the Middle East and North Africa, Chebib’s depiction of his journey in search of Islam – narrated in his affable North American English – will speak explicitly to Western audiences.
Based on the film rushes, “Wajd” abjures journalistic approaches to documentary in favor of the more intimate first-person narrative favored by young filmmakers and the festivals that project their work.
It’s an interview-based film, drawing on Chebib’s conversations with musicians, musicologists, Islamic scholars and performing artists in Syria, Turkey, Europe and North America. The interviews are sometimes illustrated by historical footage from Kemalist-era Turkey and the Middle East.
At times visually arid interviews play in counterpoint to photogenic performance – whether instrumental playing or Sufi dhikr (group chant originally designed to induce ecstasy), with that of the Mawlawiyya (aka “whirling dervishes”) taking pride of place.
“Wajd” is still a work in progress and the doc’s production company, Salam Films, hosted the NOK Yoga Shala event in order to introduce Kickstarter – the online pledge system it is hoped will raise the film’s post-production funding.
Dima Alansari, the Lebanese-Canadian producer behind Salam Films, hopes Kickstarter will provide a measure of financial independence for idealistic projects like this one – which often don’t have the hooks needed to penetrate the bottom-dollar ethos of international film markets.
It’s bad journalism to assess a film on the basis of what is essentially a trailer. Yet “Wajd” is not the first project to showcase the charms of Sufi Islam for Western audiences – witness the labors of Paris-born Alsatian qanun-player and composer Julien Jalaleddin Weiss and his multinational, Mawlawi-infused Al-Kindi Ensemble.
Neither is it a secret that, since the 20th century, Muslim militancy has frowned upon the ecstatic practices of Rumi’s followers – indeed it is said that one of the things compelling Hasan al-Banna to found Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was his disapproval of what he saw to be the pernicious influence of Egyptian Sufism.
Since then, a face of stern piety has come to dominate media representations of Islam, making picturesque images of the Mawlawiyya a compelling tool for filmmakers trying to plead the case for a more nuanced Western reception of the faith.
Alansari says that this was one of the main reasons she decided to produce “Wajd.”
“My last coproduction, ‘Journey to Mecca’ [2009] is about [the 14th-century Moroccan traveler] Ibn Battuta. I’m interested in stories that cross the divide, that tell the other side of the story. I myself was educated in American schools in the Middle East. [Between Arab and American students,] there was always a curiosity and a misunderstanding about each other’s culture.”
Film is image. The problem with filmmakers trying to present an alternative face of Islam – effectively swapping footage of ecstatic Sufi practice for that of suicide videos, a collapsing World Trade Center, etc. – is that you run the risk of replacing a hackneyed picture with one that’s even more cliched.
Unfortunately, representations of whirling Mawlawis (in soft focus or in slow-motion) have a long history in Orientalist depictions of the Middle East and Muslim world, and in their demotic inheritors – homespun tourist promotions.
Alansari says she and Chebib are aware of these challenges.
“Being an Arab, growing up here, I’m aware that at any given moment I might offend somebody. There’s no way you can represent anything [in Beirut] without three or four people saying, ‘No that’s not how things are.’
“Yes, Rumi has been romanticized. People do have completely different ideas of what’s really happening on the ground. However, there haven’t been many documentaries talking about [these issues] from a [personal] perspective ... for Amar, Rumi is a role model.
“We’re having so many problems today, it’s important for us to dig deep, to go back into history, and learn from it.
“We are aware of this romanticization and we are trying our best to ground it. We’re finding parallels between what happened then and what’s happening now and we’re trying to show that there are other ways, other things we can hold on to.
“Everybody has the attention span of goldfish these days. They just want to listen to Nancy Ajram. It doesn’t take them out of what they need to get out of. If they were just able to – to look in and ground themselves, they’d realize that this music has so much to offer.
“I think we have to do a little bit of romanticizing,” Alansari says, “just to grab some people, but at the same time try to stay realistic, to the issues on the ground. It’s a bit tricky but we are aware.”
For more information on Salam Films and Kickstarter, see: www.salamfilms.com and kickstarter.com.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Performance/2012/Aug-18/184963-representing-a-different-face-of-islam.ashx#ixzz248Devy8g

Ramadan Beyond Fasting: Sufis and Sweets

Ramadan Beyond Fasting: Sufis and Sweets
By Ilene Prusher Jerusalem Post 08/09/2012                                                                                                                                                            Sufism, Islam’s mystical tradition, has had a relatively quiet presence among Muslims in Israel.

  Photo: ILENE PRUSHER

At sunset, a cannon booms in the Old City and a few shots ring out from adjacent villages, marking the end of the daily fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Muslims are seen rushing to get to an iftar, or breakfast meal, after a long, hot day of refraining from drinking and eating.
For most non-Muslims, the sights and sounds of Ramadan end there. And given the soaring summer temperatures, the idea of fasting from dawn to dusk for a whole month sounds exhausting, to say the least.
But those curious to see, hear and taste a little more have been flocking to a Wednesday night series called “Ramadan Rituals in the Old City,” sponsored by the Center for Jerusalem Studies, an extension of al-Quds University. This Wednesday night’s gathering featured an evening of Sufi religious music, played by a seven-man group called Anwar al-Quds (the Luminous of Jerusalem). Sufism is Islam’s mystical tradition, and while its adherents are well-known in countries like Turkey, it has had a much quieter presence among Muslims here.
One of the key aspects of Sufi religious dedication is zhiker, which involves a trance-like repetition of God’s name. The men – including a grandfather, son and grandson from the Sabagh family – sang “Nushkur-Allah” (Thank God) in rhythmic, mesmerizing repetition, accompanied by different forms of drums and the occasional cymbal.
Songs with more elaborate lyrics are about the mawlid – the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday – and are based on Iraqi music scales that date back to the Abbasid era. “In this tradition, the prophet is the connection with God, and you need to sing to him in order to reach God,” explained Dr. Ali Qleibo, a professor of cultural anthropology at al-Quds University and the emcee for the evening.
The international visitors sat rapt, some swaying to the spiritual cadences alongside words they couldn’t understand, some tucking into the sweet, warm namura, a dessert pastry filled with goat’s cheese, which waiters generously passed around the packed courtyard. Local people passing through the Muslim Quarter’s Souk il-Qattanin, some of them on their way from evening prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque and others shopping for gifts in the passageway decked with festive lights and lanterns, popped in to listen and to take photographs.
“I come from an old, urban family with Sufi roots. At Ramadan, after the iftar meal we sang songs and then we moved to the radio,” Qleibo explained in a discussion after the performance. Organizing performances of Sufi music at iftar is something that in the past happened in the private homes of the wealthy, he said, and now is more accessible as professional religious musicians such as Anwar al-Quds are performing in the public realm. It’s an opportunity to emphasize the rich spiritual practices of Ramadan beyond fasting, which even many Muslims are unaware of. “Even Arabs don’t about know about these traditions,” he said.
A young British couple and their baby, on a two-month visit from London while they participate in an arts fellowship in Ramallah, came because it was an opportunity to enjoy a cultural evening connected to Ramadan. “The educational aspect – the professional attempt to contextualize it – is really helpful,” said Jeremy Hutchinson, a visual artist, sitting with his filmmaker wife, Vanessa, and their ten-month-old son.
Next week’s event will include a tour of local Sufi shrines as well as visits to several places that in the past served as a zawiya, a kind of hostel where religious pilgrims would stay. Formal prayers would be performed in the Noble Sanctuary [the Temple Mount], but Sufi rituals were practiced in the zawiya, says Huda al-Imam, the center’s director. “Today, many families sit down to watch television dramas, released especially for Ramadan, instead.”

Kurdistan participates in Samaa Sufi Music Festival in Cairo

Kurdistan participates in Samaa Sufi Music Festival in Cairo

31/07/2012

CAIRO, July 31 (AKnews) - The Nakia al-Qadiriya religious singing band of the Ministry of Culture in the Kurdistan Region presented religious chants and songs praising the Prophet Muhammad, the Caliphs and the month of Ramadan on the theater of the historical al-Ghouri complex, Qubbet al-Ghouri, as part of the fifth International Sufi Music Festival, Samaa  in Cairo.

Director general of the Culture Ministry in the region and the head of the participating delegation in the festival Kanaan Rashad al-Mufti said: "We participate for the first time in such international festivals and the band presented Sufi songs and monologues. The participating band adopts the Naqshabandi way with the participation of Sheikh Ahmed Kaznzani.

"We participate in this great festival to inform the people that Kurds have culture, history and tradition.

 

"There is common history between Egypt and the Kurdish people and there is spiritual and emotional harmony between the two peoples. We feel that our history of Islam is one and there are common things in all aspects. In addition to that the Kurdish people are educated by Egyptians through the media, and there are branches of Al-Azhar in the Kurdistan Region.

"The cultural exchange between Egypt and the region continues and many bands visit us at the festivals that we have."

The Samaa International Festival kicked off on Sunday under the title "Man is the Home, and Home is the Man". This session is considered the largest in the history of the festival sponsored by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture. Iraq participates with two bands from the Ministry of Culture of the Kurdistan Region and the Ministry of Culture in Baghdad.

By Sara Ali RN/DM/AKnews

A Late-Night Sufi Music Lesson from Istanbul with Oreç Guvenç

A Late Night Sufi Music Lesson from Istanbul by Chris Heagle, On Being August 3 2012

Photo by Emily Heagle

"These songs are poems, the bulk of them are from the 1600-1700 time period. They were a central part of Islamic piety in the Turkish context, and immensely popular in both the urban and the rural context. It was after Ataturk's forced secularization that they disappeared from the public sphere in Turkey, and went underground. People like Oruç Guvenç are central in recovering them not only as pieces of literature, but also as lived, practiced, embodied traditions." ~Omid Safi

At the end of a long day of production in Istanbul, our guide Omid Safi, a professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (he specializes in Islamic mysticism and contemporary Islamic thought) led us off the beaten path. Barely a block from the tourist-filled Hippodrome and Hagia Sofia is the studio of Oreç Guvenç.
Four floors up a spiral staircase, and beyond a pile of shoes respectfully left at the door, is a modest room lit with florescent tubes.
The walls are lined with traditional stringed instruments and drums, most of which look handmade. One open window to the street below unsuccessfully attempts to offset the heat generated by the 20 people who gathered to play and sing.
We are welcomed, as usual, with hot tea and treated to a remarkable evening. For nearly 30 years, the ethnomusicologist has been a leader in preserving and advancing traditional Sufi music, focusing especially on music as a tool for healing. This is what we heard at this evening's monthly workshop: To listen to samples of the music go here

Mystical music enthrals audience at Sufi Night

The Nation by: APP | July 19, 2012

ISLAMABAD  - Renowned classical and folksingers mesmerised the classical music lovers here on Wednesday on a Sufi Night at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).
The performers presented Sufi traditions and Islamic verses having a mystical school of thought, which depict divine love and messages connected to folk sayings.
Folk artists including Shaukat Manzoor, Mohammed Ali, Rukhsana Murtaza and Rizwana Khan performed on the poetry of Sufi saints and staged the Sufi traditions.
According to the organisers, Sufi teachings play a significant role in dissemination of the divine messages through mystical music that carry unique expressions.
The event focused on the message of peace, love and harmony through the teachings of Sufi saints in soul soothing performances that include poetry recitation and Sema traditional dance. The show was arranged by the Ministry of National Heritage and Integration to promote the cultural activities, entertainment and awareness related to Sufis with the theme based on peace, harmony and brotherhood among the young generation.
“The performances of the festival were reflective of the message of peace and harmony to the mankind and the mystic Sufi traditions that serve as a binding force to bring people of diverse cultures together,” while commenting on the event said an official of PNCA.

Songs of the soul

Sohini Chakravorty, Hyderabad,July 13, 2012

There is always a bit of apprehension when an evening has nothing to do with film music and is solely dedicated to some of the purest form of music — ghazals and Sufi. But the turnout at the musical night Boondon Ka Paigham showed that Hyderabad audience have preserved and cultivated these musical genres which thrived and were patronised greatly during the days of the Nizams. Ghazal singer Jaswinder Singh and Sufi performer Kavita Seth set the mood for an intoxicating evening of music with commanding and melodious voice.

Second generation ghazal singer Jaswinder Singh is the son of music composer Kuldip Singh. His choice of songs, soothing deep voice and his rhythmic interaction with the musicians brought the audience closer and involved in the music. Taking lines from poets like Dushyant Kumar and Mirza Ghalib, his singing was infused with good music which carried the audience with the musical flow. There were interludes of upbeat jugalbandi between the singer and his musicians. Jaswinder Singh is not only a good singer but also a Sardar with a sense of humour. Every singer has their own version of Aaj Jaane Ki Zidd Na Karo and this singer chose to sing it only when he saw a member of the audience get up. He also sang his father’s compositions like Tumko Dekha Toh Khayal Aaya and a few Jagjit Singh hits like Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho, Hoton Se Chu lo Tum. The only complaint against him would be that he didn’t sing the complete songs.

Known for popular songs like Tumhi Ho Bandhu and Iktara, Kavita Seth is essentially a Sufi singer. She started the concert with a slow rendition and gradually raised the tempo taking the audience on a high. Her concert had a bit of both old and new Sufi flavours. Rendition of songs like Amir Khusro’s Chhap Tilak Sab had the power to engage and create a mehfil even for a reluctant audience.

With the audience bursting into applause and encouraging the artiste with their wah wah, it only proves that the Hyderabad audience knows how to appreciate these kind of musical mehfils. The only deterrent in such concerts are unnecessary felicitations and prolonged speeches by the organisers which puts a break into the musical flow.

A concert by Jaswinder Singh and Kavita Seth set the mood for a mesmerising evening of music

Children Convey Sufi Message of Love

Children Convey Sufi Message of Love
PTI | 11:07 AM,Jul 09,2012
New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) A 'sufi' message of love, tolerance and pluralism echoed in the bylanes of Nizamuddin Basti when local children took the initiative to preserve their heritage through an improvised form of 'dastangoi'. An open air setting in the heart of the Basti, with a view of families in the neighbourhood in their balconies and windows and children up in the roofs flying colourful kites, Chausath Khamba provided an ambience apt for a theatre performance of 'Qissa Baoli ka' (The Story behind the Baoli). It also served another objective – the reuse of a dilapidated space for cultural events centred on themes associated with the Basti. Around 40 children from the Basti, who were shortlisted after auditions by the Urdu Academy, tried to make the story of the construction of Hazrat Nizamuddin Baoli, built in the 14th century despite objections from king Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, came alive last weekend in a culmination of a 45-day theatre workshop. The 50-minute play was an Aga Khan Trust for Culture initiative in the form of Urban Renewal project that aims at improving the quality of life of residents and collaboration between AKTC and Urdu Academy for past two years has seen children and youth from the Basti getting trained in theatre. The baoli -- protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) -- miraculously still holds water and water levels have increased significantly following the recent restoration by AKTC following partial collapse in 2008. "The water from the baoli is considered holy by millions of pilgrims who visit the Basti annually to pay their respects at the Dargah of (Sufi saint) Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia", Ratish Nanda, Project Director, AKTC said told PTI. "The (Urban Renewal) project has distinct conservation, health, education, vocational training, sanitation, urban improvement components in addition to cultural revival. Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti boasts of a 700-year living culture which has sadly been gradually forgotten and no longer remains the hallmark of the Basti", he said. At the outset of the project, the dilapidated courtyard of Chausath Khamba was landscaped as part of the project to create a performance space. It was the same place where AKTC held 'Jash-e-Khusrau' in 2010 after the 14th century Sufi legend Amir Khusrau. In the play, first-timer young actors made their entry from anywhere -- from near the audience to suddenly emerging from a dark corner -- with soulful sufi music playing in the background and kept a large crowd engaged as they spoke dialogues heavily influenced by dialects. A special corner from where the revered sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin's voice emanated amid smoke and light drew a huge applause. Director of the play Nadeem Khan and script-writer Anis Azmi narrated the story through a journalist who comes to the Basti to investigate and gets information through an elderly 'Chacha Maqsood'. The whole format simplified the history, making it easy for any person to retain it. Kiran Walia, Delhi Social Welfare Minister, who was present as the Chief Guest advocated for a "collective effort" from "not only by the government but by the people to protect heritage".

Sacred Spin

Sacred Spin

Nirmika Singh, Hindustan Times, Mumbai, July 05, 2012

 

If you’ve been enchanted by the stirring sight of whirling Sufi devotees entranced in a deep state of meditation as they dance, here’s your chance to experience the joy firsthand. Sufi Calling, a workshop in the city, will introduce participants to this mystical dance form practiced by Dervish ascetics.

“Turning is a part of every dance discipline,” says instructor Zia Nath, a danseuse who specialises in Sufi whirling, Gurdjieff movements (a form of sacred dance conceptualised by spiritual leader GI Gurdieff) and Odissi classical.

Since the dance style arose out of the Sufi principles of meditation, Nath informs that one can’t separate the two. “Many students come because they are already interested in the Sufi principles, while for others, the dance acts like an introduction,” she says.

The workshop will be held on July 8 from 10 am to 3 am at Temperance, Bandra (W), and is open to beginners as well as advanced-level students above the age of 16. In the first three-and-a-half hours, they will be taught dance movements and centering exercises from the ancient Sufi tradition, followed by turning techniques.

And if you fear that the dance might induce dizziness, Zia allays such worries. “You don’t just start turning right away. First, we focus on finding the body’s longitude of stillness and establish the centre. Then we move to the whirling,” she informs.

The next hour-and-a-half will be spent over a lunch of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine, and group activities that will engage students in the tenets of Sufi meditation.

Meaningful Songs

By Osama Jalali, *Music flows on* - The Hindu - India; Sunday, June 3, 2012

Music flows on: Pakistani band Raeth will soon make its Bollywood debut

Thankfully enough one aspect the oft-sparring neighbours India and Pakistan have never allowed to affect is the cultural exchange between the two countries. Musicians, poets, actors continue to cross over from one side to another for films, albums and concerts and entertain people to the hilt.

Raeth, a Pakistani Sufi Rock band, continues the tradition, set by the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Junoon and the rest. The band makes its Bollywood debut with Marksheet, a film that caught the public attention before the release. “It's a film for the youth, based on the education scams in India and I was looking out for a voice that represents the youth and Raeth does it the best,” says Rakesh Ranjan Kumar, director of the film.

Raeth consists of three talented musicians — Wajhi Farouqui, lead vocalist, Hassan Farabi, guitarist and Sunny Ghansham, bass guitarist. Farabi, who is down with dengue, couldn't accompany his fellow musicians on this trip. Raeth released the first album in 2006 and since then the team members have not looked back. Songs such as Bhulado and Dur Jag Ka Tara had garnered success.

Inspired by the legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Wajhi wants to spread the message of Sufism that's love through his music. “Love has no boundaries. And it has got an attraction and here we are debuting in Bollywood. Indian audience has loved our music in the past and we hope that their support continues.”

“We are a band which makes music collectively, each one of us plays our part and every part is equally important. But how often you find that in giving music for a film only the playback is given importance but we are very thankful that while making music for Marksheet the director has allowed us to create our own sound, which is really very supportive,” expresses Sunny.

The lead vocalist of the band, Wajhi adds, “We are loved in India because we create music in their own language. I try to write meaningful songs so that we are also able to communicate and give a message with each song. Giving music in a movie is a big thing for us we are really very excited about it. Films increase your spectrum and take you to a much larger audience.”

Monazir Alam has written the script of the movie and has added a romantic angle to it as well which will help Raeth to bring some soul with their songs. The film will be released early next year.

Picture: Raeth musicians Wajhi Farouqui, Hassan Farabi and Sunny Ghansham.

Embracing the Struggle

By Staff Reporter, *Coke Studio Season 5 Ep 2* - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan; Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Coke Studio Season: Putting together a variety of lyrical expressions, Coke Studio sets out to create a track that can be classified as a modern form of qawwali with a gradual build up to a crescendo end.

Qawwali traditionally borrows from various influences and verses. Atif Aslam in this season has merged Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s critically acclaimed Rabba Sacheya with Khuwaja Ghulam Farid’s universal love for God in Meda Ishq Vi Toon bringing together an interesting contrast. Rabba Sacheya is an example of Faiz’s expression of sorrow and anger for the suffering of humanity. It is a strong comment on religion and socialism where the writer is speaking to God, demanding better rights and more equality for all people.

The poem is a reflection of the shift in Faiz’s work from romance to realism – seen through his use of imagery – as he started using poetry as a tool for social comment and spreading awareness towards collective suffering. Musical treatment of the track flows with this form.

Originally he had performed Rabba Sacheya from his album Meri Kahani in 2008. ‘Larho Mujhey’ is one of Bilal Khan’s recent and un-released songs. The song was written and composed by Khan and talks of a sense of determination, willingness to fight for ones self and struggle to achieve his dreams.

Khan admits, “This song began as a rally for a personal cause. It was a pushback against the challenges, criticism, and the struggle; an artist consistently encounters both internally and externally. But after much tweaking of lyrics and many plays, the song became bigger than me. I think it easily manifests the spirit of our nation. Pakistan, though often disheartened and disillusioned, has a resilient, fiery spirit. This song tries to encompass and capture this stubborn resiliency. It’s all about accepting and embracing the struggle. And looking for a fight, a challenge.”

Musically the song borrows from various musical fields and comes to form a unique listening experience. Sufi poetry uses allegorical references to everyday life to communicate a deeper, spiritual meaning.

The song ‘Ishq Aap Bhe Awalla’ revolves around the life of a woman in love filling water from a well. The woman in the song is filling water but her focus is somewhere else and the words of the song are all the things she wants to say to her beloved.

Traditionally this song is performed at weddings. Coke Studio’s treatment encourages it to become a popular wedding song.

According to Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad the qawwali ‘Khabaram Raseeda’ was composed by their ancestors who are descendants of Mian Samat Ibrahim, a disciple of Amir Khusro.

The qawwali has been presented in Raag Bageshri and is a composition of a ghazal written by Amir Khusro. The ghazal expresses Sufi philosophy, using imagery of the worldly love for a beloved as a means of representing love for God.

Khusro writes that he just heard his beloved is coming to him and he is ready to lay down his life in wait for the arrival as he feels this dying man might be given new life with the anticipated union.

Coke Studio’s modal music treatment of the track renders new, previously unheard versions of qawwali. Written by legendary 18th century Sindhi poet, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, ‘Pere Pavandi Saan’ tells the story of Sindhi folk heroin Sassi, who searches for her lost lover, Pannu, after he was taken away from her during their wedding night.

Sassi is from Bhambore where she married Pannu – a prince from Balochistan. After the wedding celebrations Pannu’s brothers intoxicated him and took him back to Balochistan while Sassi was asleep. When Sassi finds Pannu gone, she ran barefoot, across deserts to get to Ketch Makran in Balochistan and finds him.

The song illustrates Sassi’s anguish and her frantic search for her lost love after she wakes up and finds him gone. In the chorus of the song Sassi is begging Pannu’s brothers to let him stay with her in Bhambore for one night.

After a long journey when she is nearing his kingdom in Balochistan, tired, frantic and distressed, she asked God to protect her from the evils she met on her journey. God answered her prayers, the land shook and she was buried beneath.

Pannu woke up to find out he was back in his own land and, like Sassi, he ran out in search of his lost love. Pannu prayed to God to protect him and help him and God gave him the same fate as Sassi. The husband and wife still lie buried together.

Shah Latif’s poetry are the words of Sassi – her prayers and her longing – as she goes on her search to find Pannu.

One of the Foremost

By Staff Reporter, *Abida Parveen hospitalised* - Dawn.Com - Pakistan; Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Abida Parveen Hospitalised

New Delhi: Eminent singer Abida Parveen was hospitalised here on Monday for cardiac problems. Doctors at the Medanta City Hospital said she would undergo angioplasty.

According to APP, Pakistan’s High Commissioner Shahid Malik called on the singer and presented a bouquet on behalf of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Picture: Legendary Sufi singer Abida Parveen of Pakistan, center, performs to a sold-out crowd at Humayun's Tomb during the Jahan-e-Khusrau Sufi Music Festival in New Delhi, India, Sunday, March 4, 2012. Parveen, who sings mostly in Urdu, is one of the foremost musicians in modern Sufi music. Photo: AP Photo.

Emotional Moments

By Ben Sisario, *A Diplomat Whose Language Is Song* - The New York Times - New York, NY, USA; Thursday, April 26, 2012

A Diplomat Whose Language Is Song

Sometimes it takes the efforts of a few highbrow arts organizations to bring cultures together through music. In the case of Arif Lohar, it also doesn’t hurt to have some help from Coke.

A famous folk singer in Pakistan, Mr. Lohar is in the United States as part of Caravanserai, a tour bringing traditional Muslim performers to mainstream American audiences to share their artistic heritage and to challenge stereotypes. After stops throughout the Northeast and even Montana, the tour comes to Asia Society in Manhattan on Friday and Saturday.

“The mission of Caravanserai is very beautiful,” Mr. Lohar said. “I feel that it is very necessary at this critical time. It allows us to gather people together, using art as a bridge, to extend our hand in friendship to Americans, and to share our love and our wish for peace.”

Mr. Lohar sings Sufi music, a devotional style with centuries-old poetry that is layered with allegory, and performed with all the transcendent passion of a love epic. At home his performances can last six hours or more. His shows in the United States may be more conventionally structured but have still had their emotional moments. Last week in Helena, Mont., John Bohlinger, the bow-tied, septuagenarian lieutenant governor, danced onstage and grabbed a microphone to express his feelings.

“I don’t think there’s a person in the audience that understood a word of what you said,” Mr. Bohlinger told Mr. Lohar, as he recalled in a telephone interview this week. “But we understood in our heart what the message was. And the message was joy; the message was peace.”

Mr. Lohar absorbed Sufi music and the art of the chimta, a long percussive instrument like a pair of tongs, from his father, Alam Lohar, also a renowned singer. But he is no rigid traditionalist. Over his career — which has included some 150 albums and dozens of films — he has, like the Pakistani musical patriarch Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan before him, dabbled with pop sounds, including Bollywood-style song-and-dance, rock guitars and electronic beats. After his father, who died when Mr. Lohar was 13, and Mr. Khan, who died in 1997, Mr. Lohar lists Michael Jackson as one of his biggest influences.

That folk-meets-pop sensibility made Mr. Lohar perfect for “Coke Studio,” Pakistan’s most popular TV show, and gave him the biggest hit of his career. A slick performance showcase in the “MTV Unplugged” vein, “Coke Studio” featured Mr. Lohar two years ago in his signature song, “Alif Allah Chambley Di Booti,” with a rock rhythm section and guest vocals by Meesha Shafi, a young model and actress. Surrounded by Coke branding, the two praised what Mr. Lohar calls “the beautiful essence of Allah,” and the video got eight million views on YouTube.

“Before I did ‘Coke Studio,’ the audiences who knew my music were those who had heard me in concert,” Mr. Lohar said by phone from Montana, speaking through an interpreter. “After that it reached a whole new generation. It reached teenagers, people who had never heard my music before. I felt lucky.”

Caravanserai was put together as a multiyear project by the nonprofit group Arts Midwest, and began last fall with Pakistan as its first focus; next year it looks at Morocco. The shows in New York this weekend also intersect with one of Asia Society’s own series, Creative Voices of Muslim Asia. Both programs are supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

When artists of Mr. Lohar’s stature perform in cities like New York, the audience is often members of their own ethnic group. Tickets to Mr. Lohar’s shows here sold out quickly, said Rachel Cooper, Asia Society’s director of cultural programs and performing arts, and a majority of the crowd will probably be Pakistanis and other South Asians. (Saturday’s show will be streamed live on Asia Society’s site.)

But Caravanserai, which in addition to Mr. Lohar and his group includes a young Pakistani-American singer, Arooj Aftab, has mostly been playing to audiences unfamiliar with the culture. At each stop the musicians have been holding workshops with schoolchildren and community groups, as well as soaking up local customs. Last week in Helena, Mr. Lohar celebrated his 46th birthday in a hotel lobby with quesadillas and chocolate cake.

“The artists have their own notions of what America is,” said Zeyba Rahman, the tour’s artistic director. “They are discovering that it’s not a monolithic block. They are discovering that Americans are just like the people back home. So they are being transformed by this process too.”

Speaking in Urdu dotted with sunny English expressions — “love blessing,” “very happy,” “peace message” — Mr. Lohar summed up his role on the trip by calling himself “both a fakir and a safir”: a wandering mystic and a cultural ambassador.

Mr. Lohar’s tour is only the latest of many efforts at cultural diplomacy since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Ms. Cooper echoed others involved in the project by saying that with most Americans’ view of the Middle East and the Muslim world being shaped by news media images of war and terrorism, the arts have become a critical avenue for communication.

Not that Mr. Lohar’s itinerary is all super-serious. In New York the other day, MTV shot a video for its international platforms featuring Mr. Lohar playing in a beauty salon on the Lower East Side, to “take Arif out of the polite ‘world music’ wrapper,” said Nusrat Durrani, the general manager of MTV World.

Nor is “Coke Studio” all light entertainment. The show, whose first iteration was in Brazil, has had a wide influence on pop culture in Pakistan since it began in 2008, and it is now expanding to India and the Middle East. In Pakistan many of the performers have been adherents of Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam that has come under attack from hard-line militants. That and Coke’s involvement have drawn some controversy to the show, said Rohail Hyatt, the producer of “Coke Studio” in Pakistan.

But the blend of traditional and pop styles, and the accessible spirituality of many of the show’s musicians, have made it a voice of mild opposition to radicalism in the region, said Mr. Hyatt, a former rock musician. “This is a more moderate spirituality coming into play,” he said, “and part of the acceptance of this was about this massive need for people to relate to something.”

For Mr. Lohar, the messages of peace and harmony in his music speak for themselves.

“All the world over, the language is music,” he said. “The styles are different, the nuances are different. But the language is the same. I am here representing my country and my culture. I have connected with people, and it feels so good to connect in that way.”

And like many musicians in the West, Mr. Lohar seemed fully accustomed to the idea of performing alongside an advertisement for soda.

“Many famous artists are sponsored by big multinational companies,” he said. “So when I was approached by ‘Coke Studio,’ I didn’t think it was unusual. I did the show just like any other.”

Visit Caravanserai.
[Click on the title to the original article with many more links. (ed.)]

Significant Health Results

By Matthew Brunwasser, *How Sufi Music Helps Patients in Turkey* - PRI's The World - Boston, MA, USA; April 25, 2012

How Sufi Music Helps Patients in Turkey

The intensive care unit of Istanbul’s memorial hospital looks like any modern hospital anywhere. But it definitely doesn’t sound like one.

Dr. Bingur Sonmez introduces himself: “I am Professor Doctor Bingur Sonmez, I’m a cardiac surgeon, I’ve been doing cardiac surgery more than 30 years. What we are doing in intensive care, we are playing Sufi music to our patients to calm down, to make them feeling much better.”

Sufism is a mystical strain of Islam whose traditional music is popular among Turks. Sonmez says that five centuries ago when Europeans were burning people alive for having mental illnesses, the Turkish Ottoman Empire had a more civilized approach.

“In this country, in Ottoman Empire times, we used to treat psychiatric patients with music in hospitals, in local hospitals,” Sonmez says. “So what we are doing is the same.”

So doctors here don’t consider themselves doing anything new.

“If you look at the patient’s face, you can see that he is very anxious. But after 10 minutes you will see that he is very much relaxed,” says Sonmez.

After a short performance, anesthesiologist Erol Can says the patient’s heart rate decreased 15 percent.

Can says the approach has scientific backing. He says the hospital conducted a study of 22 patients and measured their stress levels on a scale of one to 10. Their stress went down from an average of seven to three after a 20 minute musical performance.

“We recorded heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen delivery, the oxygen saturation of the blood. Every parameter was better after this 20 minutes,” Can says.

Sonmez and Can demonstrate the traditional medicinal properties of different melodic systems – or makams in Turkish music. Sonmez says certain makams can treat specific conditions.

“That makam makes you sleepy, it’s a real meditation music,” says Sonmez. “So its good to listen to when you go to bed. If you listen to this makam when you are waking up in the morning, you won’t be able to get out of the bed.”

The Mahur makam is the opposite of Sabah, so it might make you agitated and unable to sleep.

“If you play that makam to a depressed patient, you can cheer him up easily,” says Sonmez.

There are makams that can help with other conditions as well. One supposedly increases your appetite. Another can help you lose weight. The music has significant health results, the doctors say. But while they sing the praises of music therapy, they stress it’s a compliment — not a replacement — for conventional medicine.

Picture: Erol Can (left), an anesthesiologist, and Bingur Sonmez, a cardiac surgeon play for a patient. Photo: Matthew Brunwasser.