by Dani Kopoulus
Dani Kopoulus takes us on a journey deep into the mind and soul of one darvish meditating upon god and the master, swept up in the sounds of the music of a sufi sama session. The transcendent melodies and rhythms that surround her bring forth a stream of thoughts and images that flow from a burning heart and return to the silence of the breath.
(Photomontage Martin Harris)
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FROM THE EDITORSTHE MUSIC ISSUE: ART | POETRY | CULTUREWATCH | BOOK REVIEWS | & more…
Music can be transforming, healing, inspiring, exciting, disturbing, soothing, and profoundly moving—but what makes it sacred? This issue of SUFI explores music through several of spiritual traditions in their historical and contemporary contexts, musical groups and instruments used in sacred music, getting to the heart of why music is (and has been for millennia) a source of spiritual inspiration and transcendence.
SILENCE, the Breath is Precious, Discourse by Alireza Nurbakhsh
Read the full discourse online >
THE NAKED VOICE by Ellen Oak
KRISHNA DAS On Kirtan, What Makes Music Sacred and Inspiration from Neem Karoli Baba Interviewed by Llew Smith and Annie Stopford
Read the complete interview >
DAF The Sound of Complex Simplicity by Ali Nourbakhsh
LET IT SHINE Music in the Civil Rights Movement by Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons
LIAN ENSEMBLE Musical Collaborations and Beyond by Sholeh Johnston and Richard Barton
THE FEZ FESTIVAL OF SUFI CULTURE, 2011 A Personal Experience by Fitzroy Morrissey
SAMA Narrative by Dani Kopoulos
PARVATHY BAUL The Renowned Baul Singer Shares Her Music with SUFI by Martin Harris Read full interview>
SAIN ZAHOOR Pakistan’s Mystic of Music by Sheniz Janmohamed
Listen to Sain Zahoor >
CULTUREWATCH BOOK REVIEWS
The Story of the Damascus Drum – Christopher Ryan
Chants of a Lifetime – Krishna Das
Sufi Rapper – Abd Al Malik
Music is Medicine – Martin Klabunde
Opening to Sama by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh
Rung by Roger Loff
The Trappist Monastery at New Mellaray by John Krumberger
Before (The) After Quaker Meeting, August 17, 2008 by Marian K. Shapiro
K and the Birds of Winter by Paul Kane
Listening to Monteverdi by Robert Bly
The Old Accordionist by Peter Valentyne
Why Monks Choose Silence by Daniel Skach-Mills
GORDANA ADMOVIC-MLADENOVIC (gordanaphoto.com)
(Front cover Artwork: Krishna Playing the Flute – Detail ©Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY)
THE BREATH IS PRECIOUS
PAKISTAN’S MYSTIC OF MUSIC“There are people who walk the earth as if they have walked upon it for centuries. Sain Zahoor is one of them.”
RENOWNED BAUL SINGER SHARES HER MUSIC WITH SUFI
by Alireza Nurbakhsh
The Sufis refer to God as the Friend (dūst). This is based on the Koranic verse yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbuhunah (God loves them and they love Him, 5:45), which is interpreted by the Sufis as meaning that it is God’s love for us that gives rise to our love for Him.
TEACHERS OF SUFI AND BUDDHIST TRADITIONSby Yousef Daoud
The east Asian traditions and Sufism have in common the tradition of working with a guide or master. As many of the great wisdom traditions have been migrating from the East to the West since the beginning of the 20th century, to cultures that are less traditional than those of Asia and the Middle East, the ancient role of the spiritual guide or teacher is being questioned and tested.
(Photo © Himberry/Photocase.com)
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FROM THE EDITORSIssue 82 of SUFI welcomes back renowned poet, Robert Bly ponders the meaning of love in the writings of medieval Christian Mystic Hadewych, reflects on some teaching strategies of Sufi and Buddhist teachers, and explores the significance of Symbols — both traditional and contemporary — in our understanding and experience of Sufism.
FRIENDSHIP Discourse by Alireza Nurbakhsh, Read Entire Discourse>
RIDING THE WAVES OF CHAOS Interview of Tibetan Buddhist Jen Fox by Michele Rousseau
VISIONS OF LOVE Hadewych of Antwerp–Poet, Mystic and Spiritual Guide by Sajidah Abdus Sattar
GUIDES OF LIGHT Teachers of Sufi and Buddhist Traditions by Yousef Daoud
SUFI SYMBOLISM and the Mystic Quest by Lahleh Bakhtiar
HEECH Poems in Three Dimensions: Parviz Tanavoli’s Sculptures of Nothingness by Sholeh Johnston
TODAY, TOMORROW AND THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, An Award-winning Piece of Puppet Theatre about Hallaj from an Iranian Theatre Company by Sholeh Johnston
FILM REVIEW Men of Faith: Of Gods and Men/ 2010 by Peter Valentyne
CULTUREWATCH BOOK REVIEWS by David Paquiot and Peter Valentyne
Sufism and The Way of Blame / Hidden Sources of a Sacred Psychology by Yannis Toussulis, PhD
The Rumi Tarot Kit, Text and Tarot Card illustration by Jackson Woodbury
There is No One Other Than God by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh
Dissolved by Roger Loff
The Secret of the Beloved by Shah Nimatullah/Translation by Alireza Nurbakhsh
I Sang to the Wind by Jennifer Lively
Plan for a Year by Robert Bly
Fish in the Sundays River by Jeni Couzyn
Be Still My Hands by Patricia Sweeney
Conjurer by Roger Loff
ROGER LOFF Poet
ELENA RAY Photographer – Artist (antaratma.photoshelter.com)
(Cover Photo by Elena Ray)
