Full Description
Illuminates the connection of music, poetry, mystical praxis and social history underlying the ceremony of the Mevlevi Dervishes
Explores the musical tradition linked to the Mevlevi ('Whirling') Dervishes and the spiritual legacy of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, one of Islam's greatest mystical poets
Provides an accessible introduction to the relationship between music and performative elements of Sufi practice codified in the Mevlevi ceremony of sema, illustrated with rare colour images
Presents the biographies of the principal Mevlevi musicians, showing both their creation of the music of the ayin and their key role in the development of Ottoman court music
Includes numerous original translations of Turkish verse by major Mevlevi poets
Presents music examples with explanation, both in the book and freely available on the Aga Khan Music Programme website
Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, whose life and mystical poetry provided the inspiration for the Mevlevi Sufi order, is one of the world's best-known poets, yet the centuries-long musical tradition cultivated by the Mevleviye remains much less known. In this deeply researched book, renowned scholar Walter Feldman traces the historical development of Mevlevi music and brings to light the remarkable musical and mystical aesthetics of the Mevlevi ayin the instrumental and vocal accompaniment to the sublime ceremony of the 'Whirling' Dervishes.
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Contents
List of Music Examples and FiguresList of ImagesA Note on Orthography and TransliterationTurkish Musical Symbols and the Intonation of Ottoman MusicPrefaceAcknowledgements
Part I: History and Culture of the Mevlevi Dervishes
Introduction: Continuities and Ruptures in the Mevlevi Tradition
1. Defining the Mystical Music of the Mevlevi Dervishes
'Mystical Music' in the Anatolian Turkish Context
Comparison of Sema and Zikr (Dhikr)
Musical Style of the Zikr
Terminology of the Sema
The Mevleviye and Music
2. The Mevlevi Phenomenon
Brief Outline of Mevlana's Career
Brief History of the Mevleviye
The Mevlevi Centres
Women Sheikhs and Dervishes
Basis of Mevlevi Training and Education
3. Development and Cultural Affinities of the Mevlevi Ayin
Possibility of a Historical Approach to the Mevlevi Ceremony
Movement within the Sema
Western European Sources
Spatial Structure and Movement
Symbolism of the Mevlevi Sema
4. The Ney in Mevlevi Music
Aesthetics of the Ney in Mevlevi Literature
Myths and Metaphors
Technical Development of the Ney, and the Ney as the Mevlevi Instrument
Ney and Taksim
The Origin of the Taksim
5. The Mevlevi Neyzen as an Ideal Representative of Ottoman Culture
The Mevlevi Neyzen and the Transmission of Ottoman Music
The Instrumentarium of the Late Ottoman Empire
The Leading Neyzens in History
Transition to the Early Republic
Emin Dede (1883-1945)
Halil Dikmen (1906-1964)
Neyzen Tevfik Kolaylı (1879-1953)
Part II: Music of the Mevlevis
6. The Position of Music within the Mevleviye
Was There a Mevlevi Musical Discourse?
Mevlevi Musicians and Poets in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Culture
The Mevleviye and Musical History in Anatolia and Iran
The 'Science of Music' in Iran and Istanbul and the Role of Mevlevi Musicians
7. The Musical Structure of the Ayin
The Music of the Ayin as Part of an Oral Transmission
Musical Structure of the Ayin compared with the Ottoman Fasıl
Rhythmic Cycle and Poetic Metre
Modulation
Musical Techniques within a Mystical and Artistic Compositional Form
The Na'at-i Peygamberi
The Baş-taksim
Devr-i Kebir: Origins and Issues of Historical Change in the Peşrev and in the Third Selam
8. Music, Poetry and Composition in the Ayin
Devr-i Revan and the First Selam
The 'Ancient' Dügah Ayini
The Beyati Ayini of Mustafa Dede
The Saba Ayini of Ismail Dede
A Note on the Second Selam
9. The Sema'i in the Third Selam and the Son Yürük Sema'i: Nucleus of the Antecedent Sema?
'Ey ki Hezar Aferin'
Irak Sema'i Sultan Veled, 'Kadim'
Bektashi Nefes and Instrumental Sema'i
A Brief Musicological Conclusion
Postlude
GlossaryReferences CitedIndex
