An evening with the greatest voices of Sufism from the Near East: Nour Al-Din Khoarshid, one of Syria's most respected Koran reciters; Sheikh Taha, Egypt's most celebrated munsheed (religious singer); a group of women from Chefchaouen (in north-western Morocco); and leading ensembles from Pakistan and Tajikistan. Sufism, a mystical dimension of Islam, finds expression in poetry, song, and dance and arouses a powerful desire for God (wajd).

Programme

19.00 - Songs in Urdu inspired by the poems of Egbal Lahouri
Massoumeh (Pakistan)
Ensemble Akhawat el Fane el Assil (Morocco)

20.30 - Songs inspired by the poems of Jalal Al Din Rum
Aqnazar Alavatov (Tajikistan)
Sufi singing and dancing of the mamlawiyya dervishes
Ensemble Nour Al-Din Khoarshid of the Great Mosque in Damascus (Syria)
Salah al-Moussawy calligraphy
22.00 - Dhikr ceremony and sung poetry performed by Umar Ibn Al-Farid in the Luxor Sufi tradition
Sheikh Taha and ensemble (Egypt)

Massoumeh -- Pakistan
Ghazal and kâfi
Massoumeh, 22, is from Pakistani Kashmir. A brilliant medical student, she is one of the very few young Pakistani women performers of the ghazal, a poetic form that originated (in the 13th century) in Iran. She will also perform kâfi, mystical love poems with metaphors taken from popular love songs. Traditionally, both of these repertoires have been exclusively performed by men.

Ensemble Akhawat el Fane el Assil - Morocco
Conductor: Rhoum el Bakkali
Hadra Chefchaounia
The hadra is a ritual that is carried out in the spiritual context of gatherings of religious brotherhoods associated with Sufism. It involves invocations, praise, and sung prayers, with a view to achieving a certain state of ecstasy (wajd). Today this art is mainly practised during the moussem, birthdays, and festivities such as the Mouloud, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.

Aqnazar Alavatov - Traditions of Badakhshan
Voices and tanbur pamiri
Alavatov's repertoire includes the maddah - religious singing that can express the spiritual power known as baraka - and lamentations known as falak, with very simple accompaniment, as well as traditional folksongs or khalgi.

Ensemble Nour al-din Khoarshid - Great Mosque of Damascus - Syria
Sufi singing and dance of the dervishes, with projection of calligraphy by Salah al-Moussawy
Nour al-din Khoarshid was initiated into mystical Muslim rituals by his father, Sheikh Abou al-Nour, at the age of five. In his homeland he is regarded as one of the greatest reciters of the Koran. His great mastery of Koran reciting has also allowed him to become a master of inshad (religious song). Nour al-din's deep, sublime voice, which he himself accompanies on the daf (percussion) alone, seems to materialise in the almost metaphysical presence of the whirling dervishes.

Sheikh Taha and his Luxor Sufi ensemble - Upper Egypt
Sheikh Taha, a young sheikh who lives the life of a mystic, lives alone in a small zawiya (brotherhood), a few kilometres from Luxor. When he sings, his whole face glows and radiates harmony. Sheikh Taha has all the characteristics of a saintly man: he is affable and polite, earning the Arabic term "adab", applied to someone "who behaves well towards those around him."