The Meditative Music of Sufi whirling
This week on STBYM, we discussed -- in two episodes -- the science of spinning around in circles. Part 1 focused more on dizziness, childhood development and ballet/figure-skating. Part 2 considered the Sufi whirling dervishes of Turkey -- and, in particular, a neuroplasticity study concerning their amazing traditions.
In the episode, I mentioned the music of Nezih Uzel, so I wanted to share it here on the blogs. Uzel was a Turkish bender player who lived from1938 to 2012 -- and he recorded numerous albums. I first heard him back in the 90s on Mevlana: Music Of The Whirling Dervishes, from Hemisphere Records. It's absolutely beautiful -- very circular and meditative, even without the virtue of translation or adherence to Sufism (which would obviously enhance the power of the music). Anyway, I'm going to embed some of his work below, but you can find at least a couple of his releases on most digital platforms. I'm also going to include some footage of the dance itself.
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