Alevi/Bektashi documentary in English

Elhamdullillah, there is finally a documentary about the Alevi/Bektashi viewpoint in English! I believe this comes from an Alevi organization in Germany. Special thanks to AleviArsiv on Youtube for this one. I'm delighted to see this kind of material coming out in English. I would suggest taking some things here with a grain of salt-- they use some ideas that are not exactly traditional to the Alevi/Bektashi worldview (like Kundalini, etc) in order to explain some ideas to people raised in other spiritual traditions. This is perhaps similar to Sherif Baba's use of the Hindu "chakra" concept to explain the 7 levels of the nefs and their relationship to the lataif , etc. I actually think that can sometimes be helpful, but just recognize that words like kundalini are not part of traditional Alevi terminology and probably reflect a lot of the individual film-makers' interest in connecting Alevi and Bektashi traditions in relation to other forms of world spirituality.













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and another one about Alevi semah:









Beautiful videos-- I'm so pleased to see things like this coming out in English

some pictures...

Hu, everyone. I just thought I'd stop in briefly to post a few pictures of Hazreti Ali, Hajji Bektash Veli, and Pir Sultan Abdal. The ones with the tall hat are Hajji Bektash, the one holding the saz is Pir Sultan, and the others are Hz. Ali. The last one is a painting by Murat Yagan, who is a sort of Circassian post-modern Bektashi who now leads a church (at least kind of) in Canada. Not quite sure what I think about all of that, but he's an interesting and thought-provoking character. Eyvallah. I love that painting-- with the image of Sayyidina Ali in the center and the baglama of Pir Sultan. If you look closely at the bottom, you can see an Alevi semah on the left and a Mevlevi sema on the right.

Had a nice phone conversation with Cem (in Turkey) a couple of weeks ago.

Not a lot of news here, other than that I am missing Selma very much (she is in Morocco) and I am absolutely stunned and delighted to receive an incredible package of Sufi books and music from my longtime dost
Fr. Justin.

Okay, I'm off to bed before a week-long Myrtle Beach trip. Inshallah, I'll get to the Meher Baba Center while I'm there. Every now and then I find some Rifa'i Marufi folks around there too, which would be a treat.

Lastly, inshallah, we will see the inauguration of our new president next week. Elhamdullillah! I can't even begin to say how happy I am about this. America needs this... and inshallah, he will make the most of this. I truly believe that this last election gave America a chance to decide whether we want to live up the the great promise that is in the spirit of this country. Elhamdullillah, the voters chose to do this. I am so happy for this. Now, let's just hope we have a leader and a government that are really able to bring out the best. Allahu Alim. But I have a lot of confidence and enthusiasm.

So, a fatiha for our new president. May he guide us with siyaset in this new era, inshallah. Allah Hadi Allah Hu.

As-salaamu aleykum...






Hu...

A nice version of "Bugun Bize Pir Geldi". This is probably the best known Alevi song-- with the chorus "Eyvallah Shahim Eyvallah, Hak la illaha illallah"



Another version of it, that I may have even posted before--



Illahi-- Abdul-Qadir Geylani:



And another illahi by the same 'ud player:


A beautiful video of a nice medley by my aquaintance Latif Bolat. I played a couple of concerts with him when I was part of a group called Turku-- and that was when I first learned a some of the illahis that are common in Turkish tarikats, including Rifa'i Marufi.


Qadiri-Rifa'i Dhikr from Nevshehir:





A nice look at how selpe playing is done-- this is a young student, but he does it slow enough that you can see the technique. Selpe is a fingerpicked tapping style that is common among Alevi baglama players. It was particularly popularized by Arif Sag, and later developed even further by people like Erdal Erzincan and Erol Parlak.




Some beautiful dutar playing by a Uyghur musician-- probably an instrument that influenced the development of the saz--

Alevi semah and Rifa'i recitations, plus some beautiful selpe baglama songs

Semah from an Alevi Cem












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note that in this one, the dede is wearing the takke like Rifa'i Marufis wear, wrapped in a black turban as Sherif Baba does. It's a little hard to see, but he's in the middle at the beginning of the video.

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lovely selpe playing

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more nice selpe-style playing-- this time with a twist!

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this one cracked me up-- but so good! Yes, he is playing the tune from a Nokia ringtone...


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More Bosnian Rifa'i dhikr:

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Bosnian Rifa'i recitations

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A video from a Qadiri-Rifa'i musican from somewhere in Eastern Europe. You can certainly see very clearly a very intense Ehli-Beyt focus, much stronger than in most tariqas. This particular branch is also apparently very involved in the practices with fire, swords, etc. which can be seen in the related videos from the same source.

This is some of the most beautiful selpe-style saz playing I've heard. Selpe (pronounced "shell-pay") is finger-picked and uses tapping techniques similar to those of guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, Tuck Andress, Stanley Jordan, or Michael Hedges. The host on the show is a little goofy, but Erdal Erzincan is sublime.



This guy is really incredible-- more of him:


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Ozlem Ozdil is also very good, and you can see what she is doing quite well.


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This is interesting-- aerial views of semah from the urs in Haci Bektash Koy.


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Musa Eroglu is still my alltime favorite...


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Youtube is also filled with footage a great amateur saz players. You'd be amazed at just how good some of these highschool kids can actually be. This one struck me with his maturity, subtlety and attention to tone.


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This is beautiful.. this time nothing to do with Alevi music



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This is cool too-- disciples of Shaykh Ibra Fall of the Baye Fall Order in Senegal. They are a branch of the Mourides of Ahmadu Bamba. Because of their dreadlocks, they are often confused with Rastas. Even more interestingly, they themselves began to see connections and started using the red, gold, and green colors and started reggae bands! But their main music is drumming



Here is one of their dhikrs... with men and women together.



They are among the few orders left where most the dervishes still wear patched robes all the time.
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The last one for tonight-- I've seen dhikrs that involved sitting, standing, and even dancing. I've seen people slam up against each other. Going into a trance is commonplace. I've even seen people eat broken glass and stick knives in their head.
But for a great Sufi workout routine, I've gotta go with the Mokashfiya brotherhood in Sudan. They run laps in dhikr! ;)

Medet ya Ali

One of my favorite Alevi songs... Medet ya Ali



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This one is kind of interesting-- this is Yildiz Tilbe, who is mostly a pop singer, but she is Alevi. This is her singing a song from that repertoire, and mashallah... she is so good on it, I think.


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This is interesting-- another Alevi song with some intriguing imagery. Note the juxtaposition of Catholic imagery with the Ehli Beyt images. I think that may have resulted from a search for Fatima that landed on pictures related to Our Lady of Fatima! I love the one with Hazreti Ali merged with the image from the Catholic icon of the Divine Mercy, with the red and blue beams of light coming from his heart. It's a really weird world we live in.


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Beautiful Kurdish Alevi singing-- as a tribute to one of the Alevi martyrs of Sivas.


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this one is great-- Rifa'is in former Yugoslavia explaining about different parts of the dhikr. They're Gypsies as well. Notice that the shaykh also uses the 3 part Alevi/Shi'a shahada (with "Ali'un veli Allah"), or as I like to call it, "putting the Shah in SHAHada" ;)



more from the same folks-- I'd hate to be defined as an "insolent dervish" in this dergah! ;)


More from this... and anyone who knows me well knows that I have a total fascination with Gypsy culture and music-- so how much does finding a film about Rifa'i Gypsies make my day?



There is also another film by the same Youtube user of these folks doing the piercings, etc. Not for the squeamish, but interesting.

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Rifa'i Marufi/Mevlevi video-- Aziz

This is Aziz-- a student of Sherif Baba (Rifa'i Marufi) and Jalaluddin Loras (Mevlevi) in the interview. The dhikr and sema footage if from the Rumi Festival that used to happen every year in Chapel Hill, NC. This was hosted annually by the Rifa'i Marufi Order, but visiting Mevlevis would come and turn also. In the video, the loud rambunctious stuff is from the Rif'ai dhikr, the slow and graceful one is more of the Mevlevi style (though people from both participated in each). Aziz also sometime turns with lit torches-- which perfectly expresses his dual connections with the Mevlevis and the Rifa'is-- Fire being the ultimate symbol of the Rifa'i tariqa (hence the name of this blog) and the Mevlevis being known for whirling.

a Qadiri-Rifa'i film

Bosnian Rifa'i footage-- illahis and dhikr.

some videos you may enjoy, insha'allah.

Mashallah! This girl from Iran is so impressive at a Qur'an recitation competition:








The best dhikr video of all time:




More later...