Here is my definition of good art: Good Art Should Bend Your Mind.
I got my mind bent in a good way yesterday. Along with a few hundred Ammanis I was at Darat al Funun for a Hadra. A performance of religious Nasheeds and prayers.
As I arrived at the outdoor performance I glanced at the stage. Seated there was a group of singers in striking white gowns and vibrant red caps. Some of the men had light beards, which gave the impression that they are pious, religious men. One man didn’t have a cap on. Only it wasn’t a man, but a woman! What was a woman doing with a group of men singing religious songs?
Wait a minute. Am I seeing right? Is there a saxophone on stage too? And what about that man in the back playing keyboards.
Come to think of it, we were all listening to Islamic songs sitting in a CHURCH (to be accurate, the remnants of the the Byzantine church in the garden of Darat al Funun).
So what was this all about?
To tell you the truth, I am just pretending to be surprised at what I saw (for effect!) because I’ve seen a similar performance by the same group before, also in Darat al Funun. But the thoughts of surprise and wonder did go through my mind as I watched and listened to the performance yesterday, delivered artfully by the Tunisian Fadel Al Jaziri troupe. Their brand of sufi music, chants and dance only seems ‘strange’ because it stands in stark contrast to the rest of our daily ‘Islamic reality’ which has largely been hijacked by what can be termed as extreme narrow mindedness and politicized fanaticism.
“We’re missing so much of our heritage,” my friend Ra’eda commented as we stood chanting after the performance was over. True. The ‘Islam’ that I, like most of us have grown up with during the past few decades was focused on a ‘combative’ attitude, sprinkled with the general talk about how muslims, in their golden age, were masters of science and math, etc. The depth of Islamic culture, not to mention its diversity and tolerance, has been totally drowned out by the hotheaded friday prayer sermons I listened to every week as a kid and the intolerance of art that was displayed by many of the religious people around me.
Take music for example. I can clearly recall discussions between relatives about how music is Haram (forbidden) in Islam. Men chanting nasheeds with the traditional ‘daff’ drum was OK. But string or brass instruments were definitely NOT OK. Even drums were disputed. When some active Islamist students in university issued a tape (full of combative islamic nasheeds) they were actually selling two versions at the student’s kiosk (alongside candy bars and ball pens). Two boxes of tapes labeled ‘with drums’ and ‘without drums’ (presumably for those students who objected to drum beats).
As a kid, my introduction to Islamic nasheeds came in two flavors. The sufi-like songs of love of God and Prophet sung by my elder uncle and other relatives was one variety. But later, the second variety came in the form of ‘Islamic tapes’ of which some of my relatives had a huge numbers in their cars, produced by what I presume was the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria at the height of their fight with the Assad regime in the 80’s.
Some of these songs started with the sound of machine gunfire! (which we kids found really cool).
Maybe it is worth mentioning my experience with my cousins who used to live in Saudi Arabia in the 80’s. During one of their visits our house in Amman when I was 12 or 13 years old, I was proudly showing them how I learned to draw the human body using correct proportions, only to be told by them that drawing the human body is, you guessed it, Haram!
Switching from combat music to the silly ‘Habibi’ arabo-pop was not an option for me. And Um Kulthoum sounded too outdated and heavy for a teenager growing up in Amman. That why I became a fan of the Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, Depeche Mode and et al!
That is why I find it extremely interesting when people like Fadel al Jaziri’s troupe un-hijack a piece of Islamic culture like they did yesterday.
Hadra Sufi Music on Vimeo
The Sheikh next door?
The evening performance of Islamic sufi songs, interspersed with saxophone improvisations and piano, had other little surprises that made me think about this magical evening. As the call for evening prayer was upon us from the minarets of Amman’s downtown and Jabal Luweibdeh, the performers stopped their singing in respect. Then, between two songs, a singer recited the Quranic verses that tell the story of the birth of Jesus by Mary. Some foreigners in the audience clapped politely, only to be hushed down by the people in the audience (the locals that is) who know that this was not ‘appropriate’. The Quran recital was followed by a Nasheed dedicated to Jesus. And we were in a Byzantine church!
One song was entitled: “Khammer Ya Khammar” (Ferment O Fermenter, or Brew O Brewer). The singing about wine by the sufis is meant to be metaphorical, as they are so enchanted by their rhythmic singing to a state of drunken ecstasy that brings them close to The Light. One little girl in front of me asked her father “Daddy, what is Khammer!” A sweet little innocent question of a young mind not expecting a bunch of ‘sheikhs’ to be singing about fermented drinks!
Hadra Sufi songs on Vimeo
Hadra Sufi music on Vimeo
The dignified performance ended and the singers disappeared into Darat al Funun’s basement. We lingered around talking to friends. Fifteen minutes later the members of the troupe reappeared. In Jeans and T-shirts! So the whole thing with the white robes was only part of their show. And that is precisely the beauty about this troupe. Jaziri and his people delve into the heart of a specific strand of Islamic culture and bring it to life. Their introduction of a female singer and their blending-in of western instruments into the traditional songs they sing, adds a new dimension to their performance. They are not as experimental as say the group Weshm. Such experimentation would make Jaziri’s group too avant garde and rob them of their authentic aura.
The final surprise of the evening was in the form of an old Sheikh (a real one this time) sitting at the back of the ‘church’. I didn’t know what to make of him sitting amongst Amman’s cultural elite and foreign expatriates. The answer came from Laura, one of Darat Al Funun’s directors. “The Sheikh of our local mosque attends all our openings, didn’t you know?” Well if that isn’t something! A friend told me that the Sheikh was swaying with the music during the performance. After all it must’ve been his kind of music!
Comments
8 responses to “Sufis, saxophone and the sheikh next door”
well, singing was never 7aram nor the instruments used… it is all made up… but i have few comments: – Singing is a luxury, and for most of us, we need to take the pressure out, so it is okay from time to time to sing, what is not okay, is ONLY to sing, and not do anything else… honestly? I cannot find it appropriate at anytime, to spend any money on making songs when our dear brothers in Palestine and Iraq are suffering, (why go far? brothers in Amman are suffering) yet we do it, to release some of the pressure. – singing about “khammer”, I did not like. There are many topics to cover, and we have been cautioned to avoid khammer at all levels, why are they singing about it? Did they get to this state of ecstacy? Then something is wrong. Islam is about balance, and getting to a state of ecstacy alcohol gets you, well, it doesnt sound right. – clapping: I don’t think clapping in itself is 7aram, rather what clapping represents. It is extreme and sort of dramatic. Islam is about balance and middle solutions, anything exagerated is really appalled. I think clapping for a song is different than clapping for 10 minutes for someone after he sings a song (like with Majda Roomi once) that was pretty dramatic and non-Islamic. (these things have roots and if you spend a little time thinking about the reasons behind them it would be easy to see the right from the wrong, but I cannot find myself able enough to express my thoughts)
great post and thanks for the clips…so cool to be able to experience a taste…
Beautiful… wish I was in Jordan to share the experience. Thanks for the coverage.
At this point in time and space WHAT Islam needs is some method of punishing those who speak in it’s name OUT OF PURE IGNORANCE; our blogger here and his 3 commentators being excellent examples.
Yet just in case you people are Muslims I strongly advise you to fear Allah and avoid foolish giving of opinions especially where your knowledge ends. The religion of Allah is no game for you to practice with when brainstorming.
with no doubt there is a charm to sufi music… and I have Fadhel’s CD titled “Alhadra”… but… as Muslims we are asked to think about anything before taking it as a halal or a haram… personally I love thier music… but I don’t listen to all of the tracks for a simple reason so lyrics contradict with my belief that there is no might nor power for us [humans] except from Allah… and some of thier lyrics are glorifying thier shieks… and this is one of the problem with sufism… is that they put more trust and some even power in the hands of other humans… which Muslims shouldn’t even do with the greatest humanbeing Prophet Mohammed PBUH….
so I think we should practice the art of selection…. and accept anything for the simple fact of its being labelled as islamic nor reject for that matter for being labelled sufi…
nice post ahamd…
well… there is a missing not… in here
[[so I think we should practice the art of selection…. and [not] accept anything for the simple fact of its being labelled as islamic nor reject it for that matter for being labelled sufi…]]
Well ,it is fascinating to hear and see that our gulfian Arab brothers and sisters have a history of tasawwuf there, It is so heart breaking that the Islamic world of our time is full of some stupid idols as Ak47 machine gun and some misunderstood or misinterpreted ayats from Quran which are generally on fighting (I do believe that fighting is also necessary but only when you are attacked)
I live in Turkey (where most sufi facilities are forbidden because of the laic repuclican rules) and the general Islamic tendency here are mainly based on Ehli Sunnah and the heritage of the great sufis .Sometimes we have the opportunities here to meet our Arab brothers and sisters and the sorry thing that we observe of the citizens of the Gulf Arab countires is that they have dollars ,they have golden watches,they are still under the soveirgn of the tyrants ,they have harems of wives and nothing more…
Neither any Islamic cultural elements nor a sense of Islamic art or thought, they are just straight Helal and Haram followers, nothing more. We all are like the dwarf sons of the giants,the giants who taught the real love of Allah(azza ve jell) and Mohammad(pbuh.) and we the dwarfs who know very very little of that love and still discuss whether daff(drums or maybe other instruments)is haram or halal(funny how that this discussion was made many years ago and the problem was solved already).
Sufism is the specialized ways of the muslims who would like to be refined at various types of écoles who all follow the sheria and ehlel sunnah.The problem of khamr is also a kind of a dwarf approach , the metaphor of Khamr in literature represents the mental mood of a muslim who really fell in love with the beauties of his or her creator(Anyone who ever fell in love will easily understand how a lover of somebody feels and what the Khamr here represents) and maybe we should remember our prophets (pbuh)nights full of salat and tears that follows or maybe the ayat of the mumins with severe love of Allah(Baqara 165)
Anyhow,it is very pleasing that the spirit hasn’t died yet and there are still people there who will show the ways of findin out the truth,love to every one especially to my muslim brothers and sisters.
I like the post but we have to be careful not to give our opnion to much on religous issues because our religon Islam is not about what you personally like its about doing what is required in your religon. Oh and I dont agree with the statment that our religion has been hijacked by extremists and fanatics please were mostly muslims here when you say things like that it gives non-muslims the impression that our religion is somethingg evil as they portary in some western media outlets. Because if someone choses not to listen to arabic pop music or rock or anything with strings that doesnt make him a fanatic, this is they way he choses to live his life. Besides that very good post