To me, Sufi music is perhaps the pinnacle of musical experience. It is music whose goal is to help those participating in the music, as musicians, dancers, or listeners, achieve mystical union with the divine. It does this through musical form which manipulates extremes of emotion and tension. Sufi music tends to be intensely teleological, with the music being driven inexorably to a desired ecstatic destination. There is an enormous variety to the music though. One piece may be intended to build up to an intense spiritual state, where the participants are suffused with baraka (filled with blessings and spirit, in Islamic mysticism). Another piece may be intended to maintain that transcendent level. Yet another may be to slowly relax the tension and bring the participants down gently back to everyday reality. Today, we will start with one of my trinity of incomparable Sufi singers, Sheikh Yasin Al-Tuhami from Egypt (the other two are Shahram Nazeri and of course, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). The piece we are going to hear from Sheikh Yasin Al-Tuhami is from a series of live recordings made at the 16th century Sultan Al-Ghuri complex in central Cairo. This is one of his pieces which slowly builds the music to a number of peaks with just his incredible voice covering an enormous range of expression. After nearly an hour, Al-Tuhami reaches his greatest peak and then the drums come crashing in, sustaining the intense spiritual high to the end.
| Unknown Sheikh Yasin Al-Tuhami - Live At Sultan Al-Ghuri |
| For me, Sufi music is not only limited to music from Sufi orders. I find a lot of other music fits the practice and form of Sufi music, such as a lot of Bach, and ecstatic spiritual jazz, for example, John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and the follow up a year later in 1966 "Meditations" which we will hear. "Meditations" was the last album to feature Coltrane's classic quartet with McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. They are also joined with Pharoah Sanders, who had been touring with Coltrane and Rashied Ali on drums. Coltrane spoke about this album "Once you become aware of this life force for unity in life, you can't ever forget it. It becomes part of everything you do. In that respect, this is an extension of A Love Supreme since my conception of that force keeps changing shape. My goal in meditating on this through music, however, remains the same. And that is to uplift people, as much as I can." With the 2nd tenor sax of Pharoah Sanders, two sets of drums, the volume and density of sound is immense. Intense textures and extreme music, this all certainly screams Sufi in sound and intent! |
| The Father and the Sun and the Holy Ghost John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali - Meditations - Impulse! |
| Compassion John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali - Meditations - Impulse! |
| Sonata in a minor BWV1003 Johann Sebastien Bach/Thomas Zehetmair - Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin vol. 1 - Teldec |
| Love John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali - Meditations - Impulse! |
| Consequences John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali - Meditations - Impulse! |
| Serenity John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, Elvin Jones, Rashied Ali - Meditations - Impulse! |
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Nothing says Sufi like free sex and violence ... oh sax and violins ... never mind ! - Rosanne Hosanadana
3:56 PM, June 8th, 2023