Turath and
UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology Present:
Al-Kindi Ensemble 18 March 2001 at UCLA
A Unique Cultural Experience
of classical music, traditional songs, and Sufi rituals
Tuesday, March 20, 2001 In the Sufi tradition, music possesses powers associated with meditation, ecstasy and a state of grace. Those qualities are referred to as sama ("listening"), experiencing music in a spiritual fashion. Since the 13th century, they have been associated with the trance-producing qualities of spinning dance. Sunday night at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall, vocalist Sheikh Hamza Shakkur, the Ensemble Al-Kindi and the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus offered a sampling of the Syrian version of this expressive art. The evening included four waslas, or suites, of songs and improvisation. Each was performed by an ensemble of kanun (a kind of zither), oud (lute), nay (end-blown flute) and riqq (frame drum), and structured within different maqams, or scale or modes. The results were fascinating, if a bit uneven. Shakkur's delivery of the ornate vocal twists and turns of the classical Syrian style was masterful, filled with delicate melismas and ornamentation. The ensemble, led by kanun player Julien Jalal Eddine Weiss, a French convert to Islam, had a few less-than-compelling passages, and nay player Ziyad Kadi Amin was not gifted with the lush array of sounds one usually associates with this instrument. But there also were moments when the music came alive, especially during an improvisation by Weiss based on the microtonal taqsim
maqam. Each of the waslas, which included improvisations, vocals, prayers and composed instrumental passages, also featured whirling dances by the company's four dervishes. Often holding their left hands lowered and their right hands raised to symbolize the linkage between heaven and Earth, they were a marvel to see, perfect visual representations of the spiritual powers of music and dance.
Bi HamdikaYa Ilahi
God, I begin by thanking You
Sufi
Liturgy of the Great Ummayad Mosque of Damascus
When
Great Master Junayd was asked why the Sufis felt such powerful emotions in their
spirit and the urge to move their bodies when listening to sacred music, he
replied: “When God asked the souls in the spirit world, at the moment of the
First Covenant ‘Am I not your Lord?’ the gentle sweetness of the divine
words penetrated each soul forever, so that whenever one of them hears music,
the memory of this sweetness is stirred within him causing him to move.”
In
the early ninth century, when the Muslim mystics organized their Sufi
brotherhoods, they adopted music for their meditation as a way of accessing the
state of ecstasy – a source of new vigor to the body and soul tired by the
rigors of life. In Sufism, sama’, or listening, denotes the tradition
of listening in a spiritual fashion to music of all forms.
This suggests that the act of listening that is spiritual, without the
music or poetry being necessarily religious in content. The major preoccupation
of the mystics was to give the ecstasy real content and the music true meaning.
The
Sufi mystical brotherhood known as Mawlawiyya (Mevlevi in Turkish, also known as
whirling dervishes) was founded in Konya, Anatolia, by the Persian poet Jalal
al-Din al-Rumi (1207-273). Although
the ritual is primarily associated with Turkey, local traditions have been in
existence in Syria, Egypt, and Iraq since the 16th century. They survived there
after the dissolution of all Sufi fraternities in Turkey in 1925 and the suicide
of the Great Master 'Abd al-Halîm Thsélébî Bashî.
Damascus
was the capital of the Ummayad dynasty, a stage in the pilgrimage to Mecca, and
one of the principal centers of Islam. The Mawlawiyah met in places known as takiyya
or zâwiya and adopted the original chants grouped in suites (waslat)
in particular modes (maqamat) and rhythms (iqa’at). The ritual
was not performed in mosques, where musical instruments are forbidden with the
exception of percussion instruments sometimes allowed in the courtyard.
Certain
great mosques, such as the Great Ummayad Mosque of Damascus, possess a specific
vocal repertoire, where sacred suites are known as a nawbat (singular nawba),
a term originally used for the secular songs developed in Arab Andalusia known
as muwashshat. Typically
accompanied by a choir (bitana), the vocalist (munshid) extracts
from the repertoire of the mosque the naming of God (dhikr) and the birth
of the prophet (mawlid) in a serene expression always subtly inventive
yet rigorously organized rhythmically in order to progressively lead the
assembly into a trance (inkhitaf) or a state of meditation (ta'ammul).
Sheikh Hamza Shakkur
Al-Kindi Ensemble
Choir (Munshidin)
Dervishes (Mawlawi)
1.
Wasla in Maqam Hijaz
Tartil,
Quranic recital, followed by Salawat, Prayers
Sama’i Kurd, Instrumental composed by Salah al-Mahdi
3.
Wasla in Maqam Huzam
Bashraf
Karabataq, Instrumental (rhythm changes: 48/4, 16/4, 20/4,
32/4, 10/16)
4.
Wasla in Maqam Rast
Sama’i Rast, Instrumental composed by George Michel Sheikh
Hamza Shâkkûr Islam
is a religion that preaches a message of clemency and mercy, beauty and harmony.
The spiritual power emanating from Sheikh Hamza Shakkur's voice draws listeners
into the mystical tradition of Islam embodied in Sufism. Born in Damascus in
1947, Sheikh Hamza is a muqri’ (Quran
reader) and a munshid (hymnist). He is the disciple of Saïd Farhat and
Tawfiq al-Munajjid and feels the responsibility of assuring the continuity of
the repertoire in the Mawlawiya order. He is the choirmaster of the Munshiddin
of the Great Mosque in Damascus and serves at official religious ceremonies in
Syria, where he is immensely popular. His
bass voice with its richly rounded timbre has made him one of the foremost Arab
vocalists.
Sheikh Hamza Shakkur
Whirling Dervishes of Damascus
WORLD MUSIC REVIEW
A Spiritual Spin on the Listening Experience
By DON HECKMAN, Special to The Times
And turn to You in humility
If You do not grant me forgiveness for my sins
Who else can?
For You are our generous Lord
I have entrusted my fate to Your supremeness
Save me, my Lord, and grant me happiness
You know my intimate secrets as well as my outward acts
You are compassionate and merciful
Julien Jalal Eddine Weiss, qanun, artistic director
Ziyad Kadi Amin, nay
Muhammad
Qadri Dalal, ‘ud
Adel Shams al-Din, riqq
Suleyman al-Kheshn & Abdallah Shakkur
Hatem al-Jamal, Maher al-Jamal, Hisham al-Khatib, Ghassan Janid
Nawba from the Ummayad Mosque: Dhikr (Mention of God’s name) and Madih (Praise)
Nay Taqsim, Improvisation on the reed flute by Ziyad Kadi Amin
Bashraf, Instrumental composed by Tawfiq al-Sabbagh (28/4 rhythm or dawr kabir)
Muwashshah Ya man sara, You who have completed the night journey
Muwashshah Ya aliman bi-s-sirr, You who understand my secret
'Ud Taqsim, Improvisation by Qadri Dalal (Kurd and Bayyati)
Qasida Adimi s-salata ala l-habibi, Prayer for the Beloved
Muwashshahat: Manyalumni fi gharami, Who can blame me for love
Ya badi as-samawati wa-l-ard, O wonders from Heaven and Earth
Hubbu n-nabi, Love of the Prophet
Ibtihal, Ilahi ya illah al kawn, Lord of the Universe
Pilgrimage Chants Tala’l l-badru ‘alayna, The moon has risen, Ya
ayuha n-nabi, O Prophet
Salla allah, Pray God
Gulbank
Qanun Taqsim, Improvisation by Julien Jalal Eddine Weiss
Muwashshahat: Maliku-l-mulk, Lord of all Kingdoms
Sallû ‘ala hadha-n-nabi, Pray on the Prophet
Yâ Mawlânâ sallî, Pray, Lord
Li tabat al-aghani, Songs have become pleasant to my ears
Tajallat wa-njalat laylan, She appeared in the night
Shadinin sada qulub al-umam, The singer found his way to the heart
Madad, Rescue me
Ibtihal Mawzzun, vocal improvisation followed by concluding muwashshah
Al-Kindi Ensemble
Al-Kindi Ensemble, founded in 1983 by Julien Jalal Eddine Weiss, is based in Aleppo, the capital of the northern region of Syria and an important stopover on the famous Silk Route. Al-Kindi is recognized as one of the leading ensembles devoted to classical Arab music. In addition to performances with Sheikh Hamza Shakkur and the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus, the ensemble has toured with Sabri al-Mudallal, Omar Sarmini, Adib al-Daiykh and Husayn al-Azami.
Julien Jalal Eddine Weiss, a Frenchman of Swiss and Alsatian heritage, was born in Paris in 1953 and converted to Islam in 1986. Accomplished on the qanun, he studied with masters throughout the Arab world. He has traveled throughout Europe with the renowned vocalists Hussein al-Azami from Iraq; Sabri al-Mudallal, Omar Sarmini and Adib al-Daiykh from Aleppo; Shaykh Hamza Shakkur from Damascus; and Lotfi Bushnak from Tunisia. He regularly presents traditional style music-room concerts at his Aleppo home, a palace from the 16th century Mamluk era.
Ziyad Qadi Amin, from Damascus, Syria, is a student of Abd al-Salam Safar and one of the most accomplished nay players in Syria and the Middle East. He has been a member of the al-Kindi Ensemble for several years.
Muhammad Qadri Dalal, born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1946, is a renowned master of the ‘ud. He performs in the traditional Aleppo style with similarities to the Turkish school and aims at a smooth, rounded sound. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the traditional repertoire.
Adel Shams al-Din, born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1950, has been one of the mainstays of the al-Kindi Ensemble since it was created. His mastery of complex rhythmic cycles has made him a highly respected performer on the riqq. He currently lives in France.
Copyright © 1999-2002 Turath.org All rights reserved