Sufi Music

Background in ethnomusicology.  The Mevlevi Order of Sufism, founded in Konya (Turkey) by the followers of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi, cherishes music in their rituals as do many other Sufi Sects. Whirling Dervish Rituals may be described as a form of worship, and music is one of the main elements of the ritual. The commodification of cultural and spiritual traditions into products and the representation of rituals in the form of public performances has also influence the appreciation of Mevlevi music. World music market can be mentioned as one of the industries highly influenced by this process, especially in the cases of ritual concept strongly affiliated with the accompanying music.  The rising interest in Mevlevi culture, together with the popularity of demonstrations of Whirling Dervish ceremonies as tourist or cultural attractions, have also influenced the recent representations of Mevlevi music, usually with the title ‘Sufi music’ in the music industry.
Background in music theory. The music of the Mevlevi Order is strongly affiliated with the Turkish makam music tradition. The music accompanying the Whirling rituals is a form in Ottoman Turkish makam music, called Ayin-i Şerif , composed according to a specific set of theoretical rules in tonality, rhythmic structure and melodic contour. This article summarizes those rules to make comparisons with recent music works including ‘Mevlevi music’ in their title. 
Aims. This paper concentrates on how the performance and reception of ‘Mevlevi music’ has changed with the influence of the commodification process. 
Main contribution. With the promotion of traditional Turkish makam music as “Mevlevi” music, spiritual attributions of Sufi music become a marketing tool, that is to say, non-musical aspects of Mevlevi music become a tool for the promotion of both secular and religious Turkish Makam Music in the of New Age music market.
Implications. Mimesis of the Whirling Dervish Ceremonies, that imitates the main rules of the ritual, with the process of commodification turns into a show. In the case of Turkish Art Music or the fusion of ney and electronic sampling promoted as Mevlevi Music, the spiritual values of Mevlevi culture becomes a base for meanings attributed to the music positioned in the world music market with spiritual content. In touristic performances, it is observed that instead of performing the whole Ayin-i Şerif which is approximately 1 hour long, the sections of it have combined to accompany the whirling show. In such performances, usually Mevlevi Ayini in Nihavend, Buselik, Rast and Segah makams have been performing, because those create proximity with European art music tonal system.

Keywords: Mevlevi music, Sufism, whirling dervish, Turkish, makam

I develop an approach to the “poetics” of music and
movement, vis-`a-vis language, in the context of
popular Sufism in South Asia. Bringing Michael
Herzfeld’s notion of “social poetics” into creative
dialogue with Katherine Ewing’s notion of the
experiencing subject as a “bundle of agencies,” I
attempt to cope with the problem of “meaning” in a
highly heterogeneous event, the ‘urs in Lahore,
Pakistan, commemorating the death of the Sufi saint
Shah Husain. My pragmatic approach to navigating
through an excess of meanings is to focus on what I
call “common terms of understanding.” The analysis
illuminates how Islam is popularly grounded in
South Asia, more generally, and is suggestive of how
music and movement might be construed as forms of
religiopolitical “embodiment.”

Monograph of a talk given at Leiden University - Holland. Information arising from the author's personal experience of taking part in the oral tradition of transmission of the Makams and melodies of the Music of the Mevlevi Dervishes of Turkey.

Morocco is a crossroad country, a country where different cultures, civilizations, languages, beliefs and religions meet and coexist in total harmony. It has been this way since the dawn of times.
The country distinguishes itself by Amazigh/Berber, Arab, Jewish, Mediterranean and African cultural influences that Moroccan culture is hugely proud of nowadays and which is inscribed in gold in the Moroccan constitution of 2011.  To this cultural richness is added an interesting geographical diversity. In fact, Morocco counts various landscapes, from deserts to mountains to fertile plains framed by maritime coasts of 3,500 kilometers long.
At different periods of its millenary history, Morocco was invaded by the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Vandals, the Arabs, the Portuguese, the Spanish and the French. Even the Germans, angered by the sharing made during the Algeciras Conference of April 7, 1906, that had placed Morocco under the protection of major European powers (twelve, among which France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy) under the guise of reform, modernity and internationalization of the Moroccan economy and did not give Germany any piece of the « Morocco cake », came off to the Moroccan southern coast to show their dissatisfaction, by bombarding the city of Agadir on July 13, 1911 by one of its infamous gunboats bearing the name of Panther.
These multiple forced meetings with other cultures, languages and races have cultivated among Moroccans an advanced taste for the other and his civilization and, by consequence, an aversion for cultural diversity and tolerance.
So, cultural diversity and tolerance are not new concepts for the average Moroccan, but these notions are well buried in his past, his subconscious and culture. They can be easily detected in his daily verbal language, his body linguistic expressions and even his religious beliefs, without forcibly forgetting his material and immaterial patrimony.

The creation of a specific liturgy, composed of prayer, litanies, singing, music and sometimes dance, known as Sama', integrating music into the practice of meditation, is an important aspect of the contemplative life in Islamic Sufism. The essay explores the basic theological and mystical concepts of Samd'. Part 1 discusses audition in Islamic theology, where three schools of scholars existed: advocates, adversaries and moderates. The views of the advocates-the Sufis-are discussed, and in particular, key works on Samd' by the Persians Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Tiisi and Abf Hamid al-Ghaztli. Part 2 explores the idea of the Sacred and the preconditions which the mystic must observe while listening to music, analysing Tisi and Ghazali's understanding of the three conditions ("right time, place and company") of Samda '. Part 3 examines the relation of music to poetry in Islamic mysticism. Part 4 explores the relation of Koranic cantillation to singing, poetry and Samd'. Part 5 discusses the contemplative fruits of audition, the relationship of ecstasy (wajd) to trance experiences, and the attitude of the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad to dance, often considered an integral part of Samd'.

Punjabi tappa is a folk genre of rural Punjab, Pakistan. Over time, the compositions have evolved into the technically complex forms now practiced by the Punjabi Patiala gharana (lit. 'music house', a lineage of professional musicians).  Possibly the only classical form of music genuinely indigenous to Pakistan, it is alleged to owe its inspiration to Punjabi merchants singing atop their jolting, treasure-laden camels. It is now dying out.

It is proposed here that classical Punjabi tappa is not unwanted, it is unknown.  Tappa could re-enter mainstream culture. Given its exciting virtuosic display and it’s Punjabi identity, tappa has potential for mass appeal among at least 125 million people.

Through secondary research and original interviews with practitioners from musician lineages, Fateh Ali Khan and Fida Hussain Khan, this essay explores the history, present state and possible future of classical Punjabi tappa.

In the late 1990’s, a new genre of Sufi art began to emerge in Dakar, Senegal: the Sufi music video. Drawing on the local traditions of Arabic, Wolof, and Pulaar Sufi poetry, local praise-poetry traditions, as well as local and global genres of music video (especially hip-hop and reggae videos), these music videos have become one of the most popular forms of expression of Sufism amongst youth in Senegal. Many disciples have begun to use these music videos as a form of spiritual practice, deliberately watching and singing along with them as a means of cultivating a particular state of remembrance (dhikr), much as Arabic Sufi poetry was and is used to express and cultivate similar states of spiritual realization. In this paper, I will present and analyze two of the most popular contemporary Sufi music videos, which the disciples of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (d. 1975) brought to my attention during my research in Dakar in 2014. I will analyze the lyrics and the significant visual symbolism of the two videos, explaining and exploring their extensive references to classical and local Sufi doctrines and poetry, local praise-poetry traditions, and hip-hop and reggae, concluding with a theoretical discussion of the ways in which these videos perform, not only particular African Muslim identities, but also spiritual realization and sanctity.

This article traces key changes in the public life of the ney in Turkey, a musical instrument that has had a chequered history in the 90 years since the institution of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Having survived a hostile regime in the single-party period (1923–50), today the ney is in high demand both in Turkey and in the ‘global ecumene.’ The extraordinary interest in it takes two forms: a striking growth of ney music both live and recorded, and a hunger for ney learning in Turkey’s major cities. Although many factors contribute to this interest, in this paper I attribute it to the interplay between artistic developments in the music industry and the recent reinvigoration of Sufism, within which the ney and its practitioners find themselves in a new web of meanings and relationships.

Osmanlı dönemindeki dinî musikinin en önemli isimlerinden birisi olan Ali Şîrûganî Dede hem kendi zamanında hem de daha sonra bu alanda şöhret sahibi olmasına rağmen günümüzde hak ettiği ölçüde tanınmamaktadır. Bu makalede Ali Şîrûganî Dede tanıtılıp, musikişinaslığı, bestekarlığı ve eserleri hakkında bilgi verilerek Osmanlı müziği tarihindeki konumu ve özellikle dinî musikideki önemi vurgulanmakta ve konu ile ilgili bazı yeni bilgiler sunulmaktadır.

Ruhi Kalender Cumhuriyet döneminde Türk Din Musikisi alanında hizmetleriyle tanınmış önemli şahsiyetlerden biridir. Bu alanda bir çok kitap yazmış ve öğrenci yetiştirmiştir.Tezde Kalender'in hayat hikayesi kendi ifadelerinden yola çıkılarak aktarılmaya gayret edilmiş, kendisi ile ilgili basında çıkan yazı ve haberler teze aktarılmıştır. Eserleri okuyucuya aktarılmıştır. / Ruhi Kalender is one of the most prominent persons who has known with his attempts in the field of Turkish Religious Music of the republican era. In this field he wrote some boks and tought many students.In the thesis the biograpy of Kalender has been narrated mainly through his own explanations and the news and articles about him issued in the pres have been directly used during the thesis.

Ruhi Kalender, Türk Din Mûsikîsi alanında önemli hizmetler vermiş, birçok talebe yetiştirmiş, bu alanda çalışmalar yapmış önemli dinî mûsikî hocalarından biridir. 78 yaşında olan Ruhi Kalender bu yaşına rağmen bir köşeye çekilmeyip, emekliliğini müteakiben Ankara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi’nde doktora ve yüksek lisans dersleri vermeye devam etmektedir. Uzun yıllar dinî mûsikî ile iştigal etmiş bir kişinin elbette bu alanda önemli düşünceleri ve tespitleri olacaktır. Bu tespitler ise araştırmacılar ve alanla ilgilenenler için bir kaynak niteliği taşımaktadır. Bu makalede, Ruhi Kalender’in mûsikî hakkındaki görüşleri, eserlerinden ve kendisi ile yapılan röportajlardan yararlanmak sureti ile bir araya getirilmiştir. 
Ruhi Kalender is one of the religious music masters, who provides important services in the field of Turkish Religious Music, educates many students and makes many academic studies. Although he is in his 78, he doesn’t retire, and still lectures Phd and master classes in Ankara University Seminary. For a person who occupies oneself with religious music it is natural that he has many thoughts and evaluations. Hence, his studies are crucial resources for us who make researches and engage in this field. Therefore, this article is worked on by using the opinions of Ruhi Kalender about music, his works and interview records which are made with Ruhi kalender and lasts six months.

Vorwort Auf Grundlage des Hauptseminars zur Geschichte der mulitkulturellen Stadt Salonica und in Ergänzung zu meiner Bachelorarbeit über das jüdische Musikleben dort widmet sich die vorliegende Arbeit den Beziehungen zwischen den Mitgliedern des Mevlevi-Ordens und den jüdischen Vertretern der Musikkultur, aber auch der jüdischen Bevölkerung Salonicas im Allgemeinen. Es war nicht leicht, Material zu diesem sehr spezifischen Thema zu finden, und ich danke an dieser Stelle meinem Mann Joel E. Rubin, der mir als Angehöriger der University of Virginia schnell und einfach zu einigen Artikeln aus Zeitschriften verhelfen konnte, die in den hiesigen Bibliotheken nicht verfügbar sind und deren Beschaffung darum aufwändig oder gar unmöglich gewesen wäre. Manche der zur Verfügung stehenden Texte konnte ich bedauerlicherweise nur oberflächlich berücksichtigen, so etwa die Sammlung von Liedern der Dönme von Moshe Attiasdas Buch ist unübersichtlich (oder überhaupt nicht) gegliedert und enthält ausser einem kurzen einleitenden Text 280 Liedtexte mit hebräischen Fussnoten. Darin die angeblichen fünf von den Mevlevis übernommenen Texte zu finden, hätte die Lektüre der Fussnoten sämtlicher Lieder erfordertein Unternehmen, das den Rahmen einer Seminararbeit bei weitem gesprengt hätte, das ich aber bei Gelegenheit gerne in einem grösseren Projekt beginnen würde. An die Grenzen des Machbaren zu kommen und die Unzufriedenheit darüber akzeptieren zu müssen, war darum auch eine wesentliche Erfahrung dieser Arbeit. Der Trost hingegen war: Es gab immer noch mehr als genug zugängliches Material. 5

Osmanlı modernleşmesinin önemli aktörlerinden biri olan III. Selim, başta Mevlevîlik olmak üzere devrin tarikatlarıyla müspet ilişki içinde olmuştur. Bestekâr, icrâcı ve mûsikî hâmîsi olan sultanın tekke çevreleriyle olan münasebetinde padişah kimliğinin yanı sıra müzisyenliğinin de etkili ol-duğu söylenebilir. Bu çalışmada III. Selim devrinde kandil geceleri saraya davet edilen tekke ehlinin icrâ ettikleri âyinler ele alınacaktır. Esasen bir saray teamülü olan bu davetlerin muhtelif dönemlerde örneklerine rastlamak mümkündür. III. Selim'in Sırkâtibi Ahmed Efendi tarafından tutulan Rûznâme'sinden hareketle sarayda düzenlenen 32 âyin tespit edilmiştir. Bu âyinler tari-katlara, davetli meşâyihe ve icrâ edilen zikir ve erkâna göre ele alınarak III. Selim'in tekkeler ve tekke müziğiyle olan ilişkisi değerlendirilmiştir.
Abstract Selim III, who was the one of the most important names of the Ottoman modernization, had affirmative relationships with that period's sects; especially with Mawlawiyya. It can be said that, besides the sultan identity, his musicianship has an important role in the terms of relationships with tekkes, who was also a composer, performer and, patron of music. This study is about, the ceremonies (âyin) that were performed by dervishes invited to palace in sacred nights during the Selim III era. Essentially, it is possible to encounter with these kinds of invitations in various times. In Rûznâme, which was held by Selim III's special clerk Ahmed Efendi, was found that 32 ceremonies that was organized in the palace. Selim III's relationship with tekkes and the sûfî music was assessed with the light of the categorization of the ceremonies into the sects, guest sheikhs, and the performed dhikrs. [You may find an extended abstract of this article after the bibliograpy.]

The use of music in Islam is a controversial question. Some out rightly reject it as un-Islamic, whereas others argue for its permissibility with conditions. Sufism or tasawwuff, the mystical tradition of Islam, lays great emphasis on inner meaning of all ritual observances. There are varied positions of sufi silsilahs/orders or individual sufis on sama (devotional sufi music). For instance, the sufis associated with Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiyya tradition are generally considered anti-sama, but those associated with Mevlawiyya in Turkey and Chistiyya in South Asia are particularly known for their pro-sama stance. According to the latter groups, sama is permitted for ahl-i hal but not for the ahl-i qal. An early sufi, Dhu'l-Nun Misri (d. 861) stated: "Sama is a Divine influence which stirs the heart to see Allah; those who listen to it spiritually attain to Allah, and those who listen to it sensually fall into heresy." To sufis, sama is a form of dhikr (remembrance of God), and it is a source of mystic transcendence or transportation toward union with God. It activates one's link with a living spiritual guide, with the departed sufis of one's spiritual genealogy, and ultimately with God. In other words, sama is the language of spiritual quest and attainment. It is an instrument of revelation of higher and subtle truths. Music, in fact, heightens what is in the heart and mind of a listener. If the listener is filled with Divine Love, sama will enhance and intensify it. According to the sufi worldview, there is a philosophy behind the sufi practice of sama.

Since it was first aired in 2008, Coke Studio Pakistan has emerged as an unprecedented musical movement in South Asia. It has revitalised traditional and Eastern classical music of South Asia by incorporating contemporary Western music instrumentation and new-age production elements.

A performance of qawwali is something that we take very seriously," says Ghayoor Ahmed, the principal singer of Ghayoor Moiz Mustafa Qawwal and Party. "It is more than just singing for us because we have to make sure that our rendition is accurate and faithful to the original tenets of qawwali ‫.)قوالی(‬

Mûsikî tarihimizde, ebced ve hamparsum gibi nota yazım teknikleri kullanılsa da kapsamlı bir notaya alma daha geç başlayabilmiştir. Buna rağmen notaya alınan eserlerle birçok beste unutulmaktan ve tahrif olmaktan korunmuştur. Notanın yaygınlaşması ile birlikte bazı kişiler de nota koleksiyonu oluşturmaya başlamıştır. Bu koleksiyonların önemli olanlarından ikisi; Ali Rızâ Şengel ve Abdülkadir Töre’ye aittir. Tekke ve zâviyelerin kapatılmasının ardından birçok eserin korunmasına vesile olan koleksiyonlardan bu ikisi, Kubbealtı tarafından neşredilerek daha çok insanın erişmesine olanak sağlanmıştır. Bununla birlikte neşredilen Şengel ve Töre Koleksiyonu (Kubbealtı) İlahileri’nde bir esere ulaşmak için dokuz cildin hepsini taramak gerekiyordu. Bu mühim çalışmanın içeriğini tarayarak, onları harf sırasıyla güftelerine göre sıraladık ve eser hakkında bilgi vererek, notaların bulunmasını daha kolay hale getirdik. Ayrıca koleksiyon sahipleri, eserin içeriği, oluşum süreci ve buna katkıda bulunanlar hakkında da bilgiler verdik.
Although some notation techniques like abjad and hampartsoum notation system are used in our musical history, extensive notation begins late. Nevertheless, many compositions are protected from being forgotten and distorted thanks to compositions that are notated. Some people begin to collect musical notes when musical notes has become widespread. Two of these collections belong to Ali Rıza Şengel and Abdülkadir Töre. These two collections that help to save many compositions after lodges and islamic monasteries were closed were published by Kubbealtı. However, it is necessary to search all of the nine volumes to find in one of the compositions in Sengel and Töre Colllections(kubbealtı) chants. We sort by lyrics by searching the content of this important study, and we make finding musical notes easier by informing about it. Besides, we give information about the owners of collections the content of study, the process of creation and the people who contribute to this.

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In recent years, alongside the concurrent rise of political Islam and reactionary state policies in India, Sufism has been championed as an “acceptable” form of Islam from neoliberal perspectives within India and the Western world. Sufism is noted as an arena of spiritual/religious practice that highlights musical routes to the Divine. Among Chishti Sufis of South Asia, that musical pathway is qawwali, a song form that been in circulation for over seven centuries, and which continues to maintain a vibrant sonic presence on the subcontinent, both in its ritual usage among Sufis and more broadly in related folk and popular iterations. This paper asks, what happens to qawwali as a song form when it circulates in diaspora? While prominent musicians such as the Sabri Brothers and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan exposed audiences in the West to the sounds of qawwali, in recent years, non-hereditary groups of musicians based in the US and UK have begun to perform songs from the qawwali repertoire. I...

In recent years, alongside the concurrent rise of political Islam and reactionary state policies in India, Sufism has been championed as an "acceptable" form of Islam from neoliberal perspectives within India and the Western world. Sufism is noted as an arena of spiritual/religious practice that highlights musical routes to the Divine. Among Chishti Sufis of South Asia, that musical pathway is qawwali, a song form that been in circulation for over seven centuries, and which continues to maintain a vibrant sonic presence on the subcontinent, both in its ritual usage among Sufis and more broadly in related folk and popular iterations. This paper asks, what happens to qawwali as a song form when it circulates in diaspora? While prominent musicians such as the Sabri Brothers and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan exposed audiences in the West to the sounds of qawwali, in recent years, non-hereditary groups of musicians based in the US and UK have begun to perform songs from the qawwali repertoire. In the traditional setting, textual meaning is paramount; this paper asks, how can performers transmute the a↵ective capacity of qawwali in settings where semantic forms of communication may be lost? How do sonic and metaphorical voices lend themselves to the circulation of sound-centered meaning? Through a discussion of the Sufi sublime, this paper considers ways sonic materials stitch together the diverse cloth of the South Asian community in diaspora.

The sufi music plays an important role in practice and execution in our culture of religious music. Orders, which make loud dhikr, have assembled a repertoire and many composers. Rifaiyye, one of the most famous orders, has contributed a lot. In the present work, we are investigating the compositions executed in Arabzade Dergahı, the only branch of the Sayyadi branch of Rifaiyye, which has not yet been recorded in notes. Seven of the works examined here were compiled in the form of Ilahi, three in the form of şuğul. There is also a Salavat. The composer is not known for any of these works. The texts of the composed works include Kaygusuz Abdal, Imam Busuri, Pir Sultan Abdal, Bagdadi and sheikh Hüseyin Hüsnü Sarıer. The authors of the texts of the other works are unknown. Five of the works are composed in Uşşak, one in Hüseyni, three in Rast, one in Hicaz and one in Hüzzam.

Tasavvuf kültürünün vazgeçilmez unsurlarından olan edebiyat ve musiki alanlarındaki eserleriyle Muzaffer Ozak önemli bir yere sahiptir. C.Enes Ergür tarafından hazırlanan Lisans Tezinde Efendi Hazretlerinin musıkî yönü hakkında bazı değerlendirmeleri ve kendisini tanıyan Cüneyt Kosal, Alâeddin Yavaşça, Ahmet Özhan gibi mûsikîşinâslarla yapılan mülâkâtları okuyabilirsiniz. Kendisine ait besteleri notalarıyla beraber bulabilirsiniz.

This dissertation explores how music is used in the core Sufi ritual of dhikr (Arabic, "remembrance," "reiteration" or "mentioning"), specifically at Sami Mahal Sufi Center, a Chishtiyya-derived group in California, and by comparison, to its application within Sufism in Islamic cultural history. Music is an important tool in its mystical teaching and practice. A Chishtiyya-derived Sufism has grown in the West since Indian musician Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927) arrived in the West in 1910.

Sami Mahal Sufi Center (in San Rafael, California) was an important modern locus for development of its ritual music. The author joined the ritual's accompanying musicai ensemble as pianist. Participation observation methodology is applied, supplemented by description and interpretation of intra-subjective experience. The defining characteristics of Sufi music as evidenced in classical sources are described, as is the core ritual of dhikr (historically in Sufism and specifically at Sami Mahal Sufi Center). The textual and musical content of a typical dhikr at Sami Mahal, ecstasy and trance, the factors distinguishing American Sufi music from Asian or Near Eastern Sufi musics, and what musical influences are traceable are also discussed. Description is given of the musical event, the community which creates it and its activities, extent of the musical repertoire (including a theoretical, conceptual articulation), formal structure of a dhikr performance, the pivotal role of the leader, context(s) in which performance takes place, the extent to which an individual performance is alterable, relation of the music to movement, ensemble instrumentation, subjectively experienced effects of the music, promulgation and propagation of the music, and a discussion of whether or not American Sufi music is an Islamic phenomenon. This study was conducted for seven years (1987-1994).

The study concludes that Sufi music at Sami Mahal is distinctively American, yet its dhikr shares essential mystical goals, texts, aspects of tradition, form and method with counterparts in Islamic Sufism globally. It contributes to our understanding of Eastern philosophy as received into a Western context, of music and meaning, minority styles, urban American religious music, musical syncretism, accretion and assimilation.

This review examines the fourth year of the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture (17–24 April 2010). Through a description of the festival, the impact of commercial interests on attitudes toward Sufi spirituality among different actors of this festival will be explored. Also, perceptions of the coexistence of these seemingly incompatible values will be addressed. The review further explores the transformation of religious ceremonies from local contexts into staged festival performances, and how the recent emphasis of Sufism by the Moroccan state has contributed to the re-emergence of Sufism in the Moroccan public sphere.

Ginan bolore nit nure bharea; Evo haide tamare harakh na maeji. Recite continually the ginans which are filled with light; Boundless will be the joy in your heart. Ginans are devotional songs rooted in the musical and poetic matrix of Indian culture. The term “ginan” carries a double significance: on the one hand, it means “religious knowledge” or “wisdom,” analogous to the Sanskrit word jnana (knowledge). On the other hand, it means “song” or “recitation,” suggesting a link to the Arabic ghanna and the Urdu/Hindi ghana, both verbs meaning “to sing.” For the past seven hundred years, Ismailis from the Indian subcontinent (Satpanth Khoja Ismailis) have been reciting ginans as a part of their daily religious devotions at the congregational hall (Jamat Khana).

Lipid extracts from meat, head and viscera of Indian fresh water fishes, viz., catla, rohu, mrigal, common carp and tilapia were analyzed for lipid class distribution and fatty acid profile. The yield of meat ranged from 66.0–79.5% and total lipid content in meat was 0.8–3.8%. The total lipid content was higher (>4.0%) in head and viscera. Neutral lipids constituted 71.5–93.3% of the total lipid extract. Higher glycolipid content of 25.2% was observed in lipid extract from meat of common carp and higher phospholipid content (13.7%) was observed in lipid extract from meat of mrigal. Hydrocarbons, sterolesters and triacylglycerol were the major fractions of neutral lipids. Unsaturated fatty acids dominated in all the samples. Palmitic and oleic acids were the major fatty acids found in all the lipid extracts. Docosahexaenoic acid content was higher than 3% in lipid extract from meat of all the fishes. However, in most of the fishes, the content of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were higher in visceral lipids.

Islam in Africa is deeply connected with Sufism, and the history of Islam is in a significant way a history of Sufism. Yet even within this continent, the practice and role of Sufism varies across the regions.

This interdisciplinary volume brings together different histories and experiences of Sufism in various parts of Africa, offering case studies on several countries that include Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Egypt, Sudan, Mali, and Nigeria. It uses a variety of methodologies ranging from the hermeneutical, through historiographic to ethnographic, in a comprehensive examination of the politics and performance of Sufism in Africa. While the politics of Sufism pertains largely to historical and textual analysis to highlight paradigms of sanctity in different geographical areas in Africa, the aspect of performance adopts a decidedly ethnographic approach, combining history, history of art and discourse analysis. Together, analysis of these two aspects reveals the many faces of Sufism that have remained hitherto hidden.

Furthering understanding of the African Islamic religious scene, as well as contributing to the study of Sufism worldwide, this volume is of key interest to students and scholars of Middle Eastern, African and Islamic studies.

The article about revival of the ancient Buddhist mystic Bengali Charyasongs. Recently, Bhābanagara Foundation started the venture of revival of Charyasongs in easy contemporary Bangla language using traditional tunes supported by indigenous musical instruments that the Baul-Sufi practitioners of marginalized economic background are performing. In this project, there is equal participation of women Bauls-Sufi Sadhakas. Bhābanagara Foundation organized regularly cultural tourism, as a example, 2015 Bhābanagara organized Charyasongs at the ancient Buddhist heritage era SompurMahavihara (Paharpur Buddhist Vihara) for teacher and student of Hiroshima University.

Sufisms in North Africa are both esoteric and exoteric; that is, they harbor hidden forms of knowledge and experience known only to initiates but perform them regularly in rituals that are public or semi-public, making them accessible to all. When musics of these rituals are brought onto the concert stage, then, they pose analytical challenges to binaries such as spectatorship/participation, loss/renewal, and authenticity/inauthenticity. In Tunisia, the staging of Sufi music has been monopolized for decades by a staged spectacle called el-Hadhra, which, along with its offshoots and competitors, proceeds according to a modular logic of culture in which music, dance, trance, and other aspects of ritual are approached as separable, extractable, and available for recombination in a plug-and-play manner. This paper unpacks the implications of this logic of modularity through a close reading of el-Hadhra that focuses on strategies of minimizing and maximizing the ‘contextual gap’ between ritual and stage performances. The resulting ambiguities, I argue, encourage multiple and sometimes contradictory readings that nevertheless illuminate the musical and ritual chains of value activated by Sufi performance and draw attention to the shifting social, religious, and political functions and meanings of Sufism in the Tunisian public sphere.

Dinî mûsikîmizin tekke mûsikî formlarından biri olan nefesler, yüzyıllardır Alevî-Bektâşî tekkelerinde icra edilmektedir. Sade ve içten yapıları ile bu eserler farklı yörelerde bazı farklılarla icra edilmektedir. Bu tebliğimizde esasen çok geniş bir konu olan Alevî-Bektâşî mûsikîsi hakkında kısaca bilgi vermeye çalışacağız. Melodi yapısı, güfte özellikleri, icra şekilleri ve diğer mûsikî formları ile karşılaştırılmaları temel konumuz olacaktır. / One of the musical forms of tekke music of our religious music is nefeses. They is performed for centuries in Alevi-Bektasi tekkes. They composed simple and sincere and these performed some different in different areas. Music of Alevî-Bektâşî actually is very wide topic. In this notification, we shortly inform about these. Our main topic is melody, features lyrics, forms of performed and comparisons with other musical forms.