PGM Note: an inner-toxicating journey in the Sufi soundscape
First Broadcast: 13.05.05
Info: PGM 729
Size: 58 MB
Format: MP3 160 kbps
Sufism is a tradition of Islamic mysticism with a long and fascinating musical history. Devotional at its core, like western evangelical religions it aims to transport the seeker to states of spiritual intoxication and union with God. Over the centuries, it has taken many forms, from solitary meditations to elaborate ritual ceremonies, most famously the Mevlevi Sufi order of Turkey, founded in the 13th century by the poet JALAL al-din RUMI — the famous "whirling dervishes."
It starts, as many of these things did, with the Persians. From medieval Persia, Sufi music and dance spread throughout the world of Islam, in the trance music of North and East Africa, across the Balkans, throughout Central Asia, to Afghanistan, India, the ecstatic Qawwali tradition of Pakistan — all the way to Indonesia. And today, it has a natural affinity for the trance dancers of the global groove community.