Besides fasting, feasting and TV, Ramadan has always been characterised by Sufi music: Rania Khallaf probes the depths of the Arab-Spanish connection, while Nahed Nassr meets Sheikh Zein Sufi Music is like a language of the soul. So, at least, you feel - after three hours of live performance by Ibn Arabi and Musica Antigua - last week at the Centre Francais de Culture (CFC), as it happens, where dozens of music lovers, mostly young people and foreigners, let the magic wrench their souls out of their bodies, touching eternity. A joint initiative of the Opera's Cultural Development Fund, the Spanish Embassy and the CFC, "From the Euphrates to the Great Valley" is a programme of "Arabo- Andalusian" music that spans Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Morocco and Spain. The idea is to breathe life into the brilliant cultural movement that flourished around the Mediterranean following the Muslim conquest of southern Spain, when for centuries philosophers and artists working under the banner of the Muslim creed and the Arabic language, but benefitting equally from Greek, Latin, Berber, Persian and Turkik influences could move with ease from the furthest reaches of Iraq to Cordoba or Granada and expect to be fully understood. Named after the great Spanish-Arab Sufi writer (d. 1241, Damascus), the Ibn Arabi ensemble is perhaps the best known Arabo-Andalusian music band based in Morocco today. Only 20 minutes before the show, ensemble director Ahmed El-Kheligh recounted the story of the band, founded in Tangiers - perhaps Morocco's most Spanish city, 20 years ago. Notwithstanding its 20th- century fame as an international city and home to any number of Western writers as well as Mohammed Choukri, for two centuries Tangiers has been home to some of Moroccan Sufism most accomplished musicians, though it wasn't until 1993 - thanks to the ensemble - that this tradition began to attract an international following. Dressed in traditional black and red, the six musicians took their seats before El-Kheligh asked the audience to switch off their mobile phones and refrain from smoking or chatting, quoting a famous Sufi of the past: "When Sufi music starts, silence must prevail." It was true, too: any kind of interference with the angelic combination of nai, bendir and human voice would have been deeply unwelcome. "Ibn Arabi's philosophy is our doctrine," El-Kheligh exclaimed. "He was also a great Sufi poet, and most of our songs are derived from his collection of poems Turjuman Al-Ashwaq [Interpreter of longinings], in which the state of proximity to God is expressed in the form of love for something earthly. The message of Ibn Arabi is not only cultural; it is a message of love, of peace, serenity and fraternity. Other Sufi bands might take a collection of Sufi lyrics, mix it into a melody by Sayed Darwish and play it - we don't do that. We only play Sufi melodies composed by traditional Sufi musicians such as Abdel-Salam bin Raythoun, Mohammed bin Ali bin Raythoun, Mohammed Abul-Hassan Al-Shushtary, some dating back to the 13th century." Even the absence of female band members reflects a commitment to musical tradition in Morocco: "We want to transport traditional music that was developed in the zawiyah [prayer niche] onto the stage - as it is. Of course there are female chanters, but they sing together as a group of women. We will not deceive the audience by introducing a female voice in our midst when there is nothing at all like that in the tradition of Morrocan Sufi music." The ensemble's first album was released in Spain. A celebration of Ibn Baja, it was followed by Andalusia and Sufi Chanting, produced by Armenia Mundi in 2005, which soon made it to the top of the charts. Under the Moroccan Sky, their third album, was a US production, while The Divine Andalusian Adoration, to be produced in France, is coming soon. The ensemble also has plans of working with a group of Turkish Sufi musicians, "the closest in sound to our traditional Sufi music, perhaps because they too have preserved their tradition, fending off influences from other genres". Indeed the Sufi tradition, attributed to Zuriab, follows an itinerary that starts in Iran, where Zuriab was originally, through Baghdad, where he made his name, and onto Andalusia, where he added a fifth string to the lute: "Thanks to Sufi circles in Morocco, which have preserved the tradition and enabled it to grow, this marvelous music is still alive." The founder of the ensemble and its qanoun player, El-Kheligh also authors radio programmes on Sufism: unlike Egypt, where the Sufi music remains confined to moulids (saints' anniversaries) and other "underground" contexts, Morocco has placed its Sufi ensembles on stage; this is why it has drawn in musicians from the Maghreb and Europe too. The second half of the evening proved equally delightful with Medieval Spanish music by the Antigua Quintet, which under the direction of Eduardo Paniagua aims to restore the rich amalgam of Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions that existed in Spain to the glory of its heyday. One of the greatest songs they played was The Gazelle Hunter, originally from Tunis, in which the "gazelle" Bewails the absence of her lover, fearing that he might be after another prey. When towards the end of the concert both ensembles started jamming, it wasn't hard to believe that one really had been transported to heaven. Ambition unlimited Among the highlights on the downtown Rawabet Theatre Ramadan programme was Sheikh Zein and his Band, who gave a performance last Tuesday. Hailing from Minya, Zein Mahmoud became known as a member of El-Warsha Theatre, where for some 12 years he performed Al-Sira Al-Hilaliya )the epic of Beni Hilal, sung to the accompaniment of rabab by Upper Egyptian bards and involving a range of musical arts, foremost among which are the muraba'at - quatrains attributed to an Upper Egyptian named Ibn Arous( madih - chanting in praise of the Prophet, sometimes in the vein of Sheikh Yasine El-Tohami's inshad, as well as the various forms of the mawwal )a kind of ballad(, and even Coptic hymns... In the same framework Zein has been training four singers - whom he introduced on Tuesday, starting with Mohammed Ismail, whose confidence belied the fact that he has only been part of the Zein Workshop for six months - though Zein is probably still best known for Yabky Wa Yadhak )He laughs and cries(, the song in filmmaker Yousry Nassralla's recent Bab Al-Shams. "Mohammed will be my successor," Zein declares. "Now I am more convinced than ever of my decision to expand the band and make room for people other than myself. They are young and talented, eager to learn and perform, and they are the only way our folklore can survive. This is the role I believe I should be playing right now..." When, in 1992, El-Warsha director Hassan El-Geretly asked Zein to leave his hometown, Bany Mazar, for Cairo, accepting involved more than a change of location. He was already an experienced performer, having replaced his late brother as the local maddah )performer of madih ( since age 13. "My brother was famous for his passionate voice, but it wasn't my life's dream to be a maddah. Still, I agreed to replace him; and once it starts you can't stop it. I used to have a full-week schedule touring the villages to oblige people, moving from one moulid )saint's anniversary( to the next. Then in 1988, I managed to perform at the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces theatre, which was a revolutionary step for a maddah from Bani Mazar. And yet El-Geretly's invitation was another order of opportunity - a life's chance." At El-Warsha, in addition to performing, Zein mastered the Sira with Sayed El-Duwwi, its last remaining master, often spending time with him in Bous, Qina, and familiarised himself with a range of urban classic songs from the 20th century. Before too long he was training fellow members of the company, and in 1996 he started his own band, gradually moving out of El-Warsha, which was suffering from financial constraints, with El-Geretly's support. The six-month workshop of which this performance is a preliminary result is the latest stop on that journey. "I meet the performers and I tell them, 'You won't get money, but you'll get the chance to develop your skills and perform to the public.' Then they smile and they say, 'Okay.' That's how it starts." Besides Ismail, there is Maryam Saleh, Donia Al-Wadidy and, most recently, Arfa Abdel-Rasoul who, having an acting background, has been performing the light dramatic songs known as monologat - from the word "monologue" - very successfully. "The idea was to remind people of the good old days of Shukouku, Thurayya Hilmy and Ismael Yassin ]early masters of the form [. It was my first time to perform monologat," Abdel-Rasoul says. "Zein liked the idea and he encouraged me. We thought if the audience liked it, then we'd go on. And they did, so it's going to be a stable part of our repertoire." But no one else in the band had any such background when they started. Ismail, Zein's heir apparent, has his own very different story: "My journey with performing started when I was eight, and I had a lot of experience singing with different bands including one of my own, as well as spending a few years with El-Warsha. Singing is a joy, but to sing Sufi songs doubles that joy." Even for pop music purposes, and Ismail doesn't discount the possibility that he will become a pop star, "this is a great opportunity to polish up my talent because folklore allows you discover new aspects of your voice". Ismail too believes in the need to preserve heritage and says the Sira is no less important than Homer. For her part El-Wadidi, a Turkish literature student who stunned the audience with a traditional male galabeya and hat for Betnadini tani leh )Why do you call me back( - among the most popular folk songs in the troupe's repertoire - enjoys selecting her own songs and stage costumes: "I will definitely spend some time with Zein but I have no idea where to go from there. I'm not sure if I'll to devote myself to folklore." Zein's ambition is limitless, however, and being so proud of his students he is full of innovative ideas: "I dream of producing an operetta of Al-Sira Al-Hilalya like the memorable El-Lila El-Kibira. I dream of producing an album that presents the words of ]the Sufi poets[ Ibnulfared and Al-Halaj in such a way that young people will appreciate them - not a single, hour-long song. I already have nine short songs ready and it may come to pass next January." He also wants to do more songs like Yabky Wa Yadhak, which is already a popular mobile phone tone in Egypt and Jordan. Funds and the lack of organised publicity remain the band's greatest obstacle. "Interest in folklore is shrinking whether on the part of the government or the NGOs. Ten years ago Ramadan was a time during which the Sira was performed by over six different bands all over Cairo and Alexandria; now it's all about pop." As Arfa puts it, "Instead of one pop star for one night for LE30,000, you can have a whole band for the whole month for LE20,000. When was Ramadan about pop music anyway?"
