Quote:
Originally Posted by 4ZZZ
Transe Soufie d'Alep Aleppian Sufi Transe by Ensemble Al Kindi and Sheikh Habboush - 2005
In 1992 I went and caught a movie that had got my attention. It was called Baraka and I came away transfixed by the music as well as the wonderful scenery presented. This was a docu drama with no words and an appropriate piece of music to suit the scene. This was the movie that introduced me to the sublime Hosts of Seraphim by Dead Can Dance. This movie also introduced to me to Whirling Dervishes and that is what you see on the cover of this album. While trawling blog world this album stood out in the fact that it reminded me not only of Baraka but the amazing dancing of these people who are of a Sufi order called Mevleviye. To see them whirl around for a considerable length of time has to be seen to be believed.
If one is to listen to an album like this it is going to be difficult to explain as it is not something that I have had much contact with. To quote the the blog.
Make of that what you will. I do like the cover though. As stated above it reminded me of a scene from the wonderful Baraka. But it also reminded me, on reflection, that we Music Banter members are also very Western centric in our tastes. We think that because we listen to a wide range of genres we are in fact versatile. But are we? The vast majority of music discussed, Rock, Jazz, folk and Classical, is predominantly western in it's roots. Would anyone listen to sufi music, or for that matter any Eastern religious or ethnic styled music that is not within those genre confines? Most would not. And lets be honest even the rather oddly termed World Music genre is really a fusion of non west with the western sounds to make it more palatable. Am I being cynical? I hope not as I like ethnic fusion. See my love of Dead Can Dance for example.
After all that I will admit that this has been a listening experience that I am unable to appreciate or understand and in reality would have liked to have had this on a DVD with some eastern scenery to make it more entertaining, and that is not the word I am looking for but none other come to mind. In the end I guess I am saying that culturally I am not of the East be that of middle of far so as open minded as I think I am some things will always be difficult. I am happy to have had the experience of listening to Sufi chanting as part of my life's experiance but in the end would rather see Whirling Dervishes and Sufi singers live in the Middle East while being a despised tourist than listening here in my home town and on my Walkman.
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I love twirling dervishes!
I used to laugh at them when I was quite young, as what they did seemed a bit too absurd. However, last year, we got to study them in one of our classes, and it's just amazing how simple all this concept is. They don't feel anything really, it's not like they're torturing themselves in some way. It's one of the many oriental meditating techniques, the dervishes would be twirling while reciting a mantra in their head, until they reach this moment of pure clarity. When twirling, with the right technique, they don't get dizzy (which makes twirling for more than five hours possible) all the blood rushes into their brain, and they feel elevated.
Unfortunately there's not much genuine Sufi dervishes nowadays. Usually, some twirl in events, but they're just show people, not Sufis. Though many still exist in Turkey mostly, but I don't think they'd be twirling all on the streets.