Spun together
At an international Sufi festival, the participants hear similarities that suggest an ancient shared heritage for Sufi music
Making their way across barren West Asia and Central Asia, when nomadic tribes camp, one of the things they do is dance. For many tribes, dance involves raising the arms heavenward and spinning in circles, much like the whirling dervishes of Turkey. There are striking similarities in the music and dance of the Roma or gypsies in Europe, Central Asia and India.
The international Sufi festival held in Delhi this week attempted to string together these similarities through Sufi groups from five countries — Denmark, Hungary, Egypt, Morocco and India. In doing so, the three-day festival, organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), raised a question: should Sufism be viewed in the realm of religion or does it have a wider context?
One group that tried to answer this question through its performance was Orient West Choir from Denmark, a country not usually connected with Sufism. This group, with musicians from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Palestine and Israel, drew musical connections between the three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, tying together the roots of cultures that have diverged over 2,000 years.
“We felt very connected with the Baul fakirs from West Bengal and exchanged notes with Sufi singers from Morocco,” says Dalia Faitelson, composer, singer and songwriter for the Orient West Choir. “Baul singing is based in the rural culture of Bengal,” says ICCR Director General Suresh K Goel. The word “Baul” appears in Bengali texts as early as the 15th century. Goel says “because culture as a set of values and ethics predates religion,” he thinks that Sufism might, too.
Sufism is often described as Islamic mysticism. The late scholar Idries Shah has, however, said that “its roots predate the rise of Islam”. The English poet-novelist Robert Graves, in fact, begins his introduction to Shah’s book, The Sufis, by saying, “The Sufis are an ancient spiritual freemasonry whose origins have never been traced or dated; nor do they themselves take much interest in such researches, being content to point out the occurrence of their own way of thought in different regions and periods.” According to the medieval Iranian scholar Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, the word sufi is derived from the Greek word sofia, meaning “wisdom,” says Goel.
Connecting the threads, Goel adds, “Sufism, through the Silk Route, linked Europe, India and West Asia with Central Asia.” The link was evident in the sound emerging from Söndörgö, a Hungarian band that presented its album, Tamburising — Lost Music of the Balkans, at the festival. And in the observation of the Egyptian ambassador, who said that instruments used by the Sufi performers from his country could be seen in temple carvings dating back 5,000 years.