The musicians arrived on Sunday and have begun practicing. Here are some videos.
The Rough Guide to Sufi Music
October 18, 2012 by
Sufi music varies substantially across the world in terms of form. However, from LA to Kolkata or from Turkey to Senegal or South Africa, the poetry embeded in the songs has a universal message. In many ways, whatever the form, we are yearning to be closer to the Divine. If you want to purchase some of this music, here is one place you can get some Sufi music.
In this Rough Guide CD, one interesting musician is Moudou Gaye. Modou is from Senegal. He plays the “hang”, a metallic percussion instrument physically related to the steelpan. He uses this instrument to “cross borders instead of a passport…Modou tries out these new tonalities in improvised concerts and meetings with musicians. While singing Sufi poems with ephemeral jazz bands, Modou takes us into his “Soufi Jazz” universe where languages, instruments and cultures mix amongst each other. A remarkable person, he draws the East and the West closer together, thanks to his unique and witty music.” (Virtual Womex). Here are examples of him playing.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
October 3, 2012 by
I found this really neat recording of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing Allah, Mohammed, Char Yaar. The punjabi lyrics are here. This song is a Qawwali. “Qawwali can be classified as an ecstatic ritual. One of Qawwali’s primary functions is to guide its listeners–those who understand the poetry and meaning–into a state of ecstatic trance (wajd). The music of Hindustani Sufi Muslims, it guides its listeners towards a spiritual union with the saints, with the Prophet, and eventually with God” (Ari Gold Films). Here Nusrat recites the names of the four (char) Indian Sufi saints: “Haji, Khawaja, Qutab, and Farid (Khan 1989). Khawaja is a title for Chishti, the founder saint of Chishtiyya Sufism in India (13th century), supposedly a direct descendent of the Prophet; Qutab was Chishti’s disciple; Farid was Qutab’s (see Begg). Farid, in turn, taught Nizamuddin Auliya, whose disciple Amir Khusrau is credited with many Qawwali compositions and innovations, including the use of Persian and Rekhta (proto-Urdu) languages (Thakur 275, Referenced in Ari Gold Films ), and who gave sama‘–the song–its legitimacy in the face of Orthodox Muslim opposition to music, with the words, “May GOD bless this tribe of music-makers who make even the day of retribution stand by when they perform” (Sarmadee 264). This song which Nusrat performs, then, connects the man who asked God to bless the sama‘ with a line of sainthood leading directly to the Prophet and to God. The Qawwali song affirms the spiritual legitimacy of Qawwali.” (Ari Gold Films)