The Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.There was a contradiction to the evening. Before the performance, City Center's outer lobby was jammed with ticket holders and with those seeking tickets. Most of the latter were young. They sat on the floor and waited. Yet this was no rock concert. Nor was there any trace of exaggerated animation or trancelike behavior. The event was dignified and straightforward. During the first fifty minutes the Mevlevi Ensemble of the Mevlana Culture and Art Foundation played and sang a long sequence of themes. They began in stately fashion and grew to the falsetto falsetto (fôlsĕt`tō) [Ital.,=diminutive of false], high-pitched, unnatural tones above the normal register of the male voice, produced, according to some theories, by the vibration of only the edges of the larynx. singing of an elderly blind man, who was also one of the percussionists. Sometimes he sounded cantorial; sometimes his style resembled the Spanish cante jondo Cante jondo is a vocal style in flamenco. An unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music, the name means deep song (Spanish hondo = "deep"). Cultural references to cante jondo The poet Federico García Lorca used the title , only rougher, less personal, less virtuosic. The second half of the program was devoted to the 700-year-old Dervish dervish (dûr`vĭsh), see fakir; Rumi, Jalal ad-Din. dervish In Islam, a member of a Sufi fraternity. These mystics stressed emotional aspects of devotion through ecstatic trances, dancing, and whirling. dance ceremony in which the participants were, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. introductory speaker Sheikh sheikh or shaykh Among Arabic-speaking tribes, especially Bedouin, the male head of the family, as well as of each successively larger social unit making up the tribal structure. The sheikh is generally assisted by an informal tribal council of male elders. Kabir Helminski Kabir Helminski is a Shaikh of the Mevlevi Order of Sufism. He is the Co-Director of the Threshold Society, a non-profit educational foundation that has developed programs that provide a structure for practice and study within Sufism and spiritual psychology. , experiencing the divine reality by approaching it through the heart. The male participants (Helminski made it clear that in Turkey women are also involved) entered slowly, walking close to the ground like the celebrants in Martha Graham's Primitive Mysteries. Two leaders, in red light, spread sheepskins and knelt on them. The men followed a square path. As each one reached a corner, he bowed to the participant behind him. All crossed their arms and placed their hands on their shoulders. Then they extended their arms, left palm down and right palm up, inclined their gaze toward the down-turned palm, and began to turn softly. The right side of their short jackets was fastened down,. the left hung loose. As they whirled  This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.The content may change substantially as more information becomes available. , the weight-bearing foot remained stable while the working foot, turned in, repeatedly made a full circle around it. The dancers did not remain in one spot but subtly made their way around the stage and around one another. It was calm, expert, and soothing to watch. At the end, there was no applause. The many young people in the theater clearly realized that this was a different kind of ritual from a rock concert. Its intention was to return the participants, both dancers and audience, to the root of the root" of themselves. |
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