MUMBAI: The Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY), Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani Rajasthan chapter organized Sufi Music performance by Ustad Jamil Khan’s troupe on Sunday 21 September 2008 evening in the auditorium of the Institute.
Sufism is the mystical and ancient branch of Islam that emphasizes the seeker’s path toward ecstatic unity with God. Many Sufi traditions seek to utilize its emotive power for remembering God or dhikr. Sufi communities or orders are found throughout the Muslim world, from South and Central Asia through Turkey, Iran, the Levant and northern, eastern and western Africa. With that wide a geographical and cultural spread for Sufism itself, Sufi musical practice is itself equally diverse.
Each Sufi order or brotherhood has its own traditions, and forms of Sufi practice vary greatly from region to region. It’s not surprising, then, to find that Sufi musical forms are wildly distinct and varied; to the newcomer, it might even seem quite startling to discover that, for example, qawwali from Pakistan and India is linked spiritually and historically to, say, the “whirling dervishes” of Turkey or the Wolof-language praise songs from Senegal. However, all these different facets of ritual and performance have the same goal in mind: to lose oneself in remembering God and in drawing closer to the divine.
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The highlights of the Sufi Music evening at Pilani included Jesa Khan’s mesmerizing Khartal who had the audience dancing at his fingertips, Rahees Khan’s Morchang who had the audience eating out of his hands, Ghamu Khan’s soul stirring Kamaycha, Bhutta Khan’s haunting voice who had the audience wanting more and more, Sher Mohammed’s magical Algoza and Bhutta Khan’s reverberating Dholak. True to Jalal-Ud-Din Rumi the great Persian Sufi Poet’s quote, each one of them performed right from his soul and made the audience feel a river of joy flowing in them.
The Sufi music performance which found an elegance and rhythmic swing throughout made the jam packed audience levitate at the auditorium of BITS Pilani and undoubtedly received the standing ovation.
