Sufi album. This is a powerful recording of Middle Eastern music. Kudsi plays nay with Mahmoud Tabrizi Zadeh adding the scintillating sounds of the santur (a type of hammer dulcimer) and the sensual melodies of the kemantche (a bowed string instrument). Bruno ...

Mevlevi is an ancient Turkish musical tradition, dating back almost 800 years, in which repetitive rhythms and vocals are fundamental, with melody (often played on an Arabic flute called the ney) assisting them both. These three elements work together to ...

A nice overview of the various aspects of Sufi music throughout the world. While music is generally frowned upon by the Islamic orthodoxy, *sm embraces it thoroughly as a means to come nearer to God. Here, representatives of the art...

A collection of rites from the various sects of Sufism and the syncretized Berber religions around Taroudannt, recorded during various public ceremonies in the mid-'90s. The album opens with a morning adhan from the region, much less melodic and stylized...

The swirling dervishes are not much known in the Western world, although since the 1990s, we started to see groups of dervishes and musicians touring around Europe and North America, or else, we have been seeing them in some movies ...

During the medieval heyday of Islamic hegemony, Damascus held one of the great music schools (Cordoba being the other). Its * brotherhoods have since preserved a tradition that incorporated Byzantine and Armenian Christian elements. Shakkur is one of the great...

Includes liner notes by Eduardo Paniagua, Francisco Caballero and Omar Metioui.

La Confrerie Chadhiliyya includes: Cheikh Mohammed Al-Halbawi. Recording information: Les Studios De La Seine, Paris, France. Photographer: Walter Brooks. Translator: Delia Morris. Liner Note Author: Bernard Moussali.

Track Listing of songs: Ilahi: Veysel Karani / Taksim / Ilahi: Sol Cennetin Irmaklari; Dua / Fatiha / Salavat / Evrad / Kelime-i Tevhuid: La Ilahi Illallah / Ismi Celal / Hou / Fatiha; Kiyyam Ilahsi / Salavat / Hou, Devrah Ilahisi ...

Recorded in Houston and Austin, Texas; Washington, D.C.; New York, New York in 1978. A lush studio recording of Turkish * music, it was made during a 1978 tour by the "Whirling Dervishes" troupe. Originally a two-LP set, this tape presents...

Shaykh Shakkur's voice is something to be marveled at and luxuriated in. At the same time, his musical vision and presentation of the spiritual music of the Great Mosque of the Umayyads in Damascus, Syria, where he is the munshid ...

Trance music is supposed to be good for the soul, but this version might even be able to cure mental illness. That's the idea behind this marvelous album by Turkish doctor of psychology Rahmi Oruç Güvenç and his three-man ensemble. ...

In the dry, sun-baked hills of Anatolia was born a folk music of passion and rhythmic energy. Musicians of the secretive Moslem * sect adapted this powerful music for religious rites and created a lively, raw musical form. These songs...

Moroccan Trance Music II presents two of Morocco's finest traditional ensembles, the Gnoua Brotherhood of Marrakesh and the Master Musicians of Joujouka, in live outdoor performances. The recordings are excellent, capturing not only the musicians, but the ambience of the ...

* SONGS OF LOVE FROM INDIA & IRAN contains field recordings made from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Trance music is supposed to be good for the soul, but this version might even be able to cure mental illness. That's the idea behind this marvelous album by Turkish doctor of psychology Rahmi Oruç Güvenç and his three-man ensemble. ...

Like their Syrian counterparts, the Turkish * were guardians of the classical tradition. Though it accompanies worship, the Mevlevi ensemble is also a concert group, having recently toured the U.S. This fine recording, patterned after a complete dervish ceremony, is...

Track Listing of songs: Rag Jogiya (Instrumental); Dhamal Qualandar Shahbaz; Kafi of Shah Abdul Latif; Rag Kohiyari (Instrumental); Way of Shah Abdul Latif; Rag Behrwee (Instrumental); Poem of Sachal Sarmast; Rag Durga (Instrumental); Thari Lok Geet; Rag Lorrao (Instrumental); Kafi of *...

Track Listing of songs: Hayyul Kayyum Allah; Hay; Kaside; Segah Ilahi; Taksim; Naat; Allah Ya Daim; Usaak Ilahi; Mersiyye; Allah Emrin; Naat-I Nebi; Coran;

From the Village Pulse label's explorations of Senegalese (primarily) drumming traditions comes this album of Wolof drumming from the Qadiriya sect of Sufism. Boubacar Diagne, a seventh-generation drummer, leads an ensemble through a number of rhythms from the Senegalese Wolof...

Full performer name: Ensemble De Cheikh Abdelaziz Ben Mahmoud. Director: Ariane Segal. Ben Mahmoud

Here, the great Kudsi Erguner performs (in tandem with a number of other musicians) a sema ceremony in the Bayati mode. The compositions on this album were penned by Kochek Dervish Mustafa Dede, a Sufist from the 16th century. It...