The Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) London announced an upcoming U.K. tour of the "Whirling Dervishes: Mevlevi Sema Ceremony and Devran Dhikr" along with two lectures and concerts on Ottoman Sufi music, which will be performed by the Istanbul Sufi Ceremonies Ensemble in Cambridge, Oxford and London.
Offering an authentic experience through a dazzling performance of a centuries-old ritual, it unites the mind, heart and body through the universal language of music and movement.
The series of events will launch on Feb. 12 at West Road Concert Hall, one of Cambridge's premiere music venues and renowned for its superb acoustic qualities. The second stage of the tour will take place on Feb. 13, at Sheldonian Theatre, an architectural jewel at the heart of Oxford and on Feb. 14, this spiritually fulfilling experience will wrap up with a final performance in London at EartH Theatre, a stylish and glorious multi-arts space.
Besides these, two lectures and concerts will be held on Mevlevi culture and Sufi music. The first lecture and concert will take place on the Feb. 11, at the SOAS University of London: The Department of Music, and the second lecture and concert will take place on Feb. 16 at the West Road Concert Hall, University of Cambridge.
This unique lecture and concert event will also feature insightful talks by the head of the dervishes, Mehmed Fatih Çıtlak, who is also an accomplished Islamic scholar, author Sufi Shaykh, along with a talk by Owen Wright, who is an emeritus professor of musicology of the Middle East. The lectures will be joined by an ensemble of the choir and excellent musicians fusing the traditional ney (reed flute), Turkish tanbur, Turkish kanun, Turkish oud, classical kemençe and rhythm. The ensemble led by art director Yüce Gümüş will perform traditional pieces from Ottoman classical and Sufi music.
"The Whirling Dervishes: Mevlevi Sema Ceremony & Devran Dhikr" organized by YEE London and Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism in collaboration with the University of Cambridge: Faculty of Music, and supported by West Road Concert Hall, Islam Channel, Cambridge Islamic Art, Cambridge Crescent, the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Oxford Turkish Society and SOAS University of London: Department of Music aims to introduce and represent the authentic Sema ceremony in its traditional and genuine form.
The Mevlevi Sema ceremony, which was proclaimed a "masterpiece" in 2005 in UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Program, was registered on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.
The whirling dervishes ceremony will be presented and performed by the Istanbul Sufi Ceremonies Ensemble, a specialized ensemble officially established in 2018 under the Republic of Türkiye's Ministry of Culture and Tourism and represents master vocal and instrumental artists and ensemble of senior semazens (whirling dervishes).
Since its establishment, Istanbul Sufi Ceremonies Ensemble has been organizing concerts in restored historical buildings and concert halls all around the world. During these events, ceremonies and rituals of Islamic tradition and Sufi culture, known to a few people, are performed in their original authentic versions.
The ceremonies are conducted by masters in their respective fields and feature a choir comprising Türkiye's most talented musicians. For the ceremonies, the highest grades of traditional Turkish songs are sung, parts of Persian, Turkish and Arabic poems are read, and the ceremony is completed with a recitation of the Quran.
The unique ceremony comprises not only the Sema ceremony but also Devran Dhikr, a special type of dhikr (meditation) that forms an integral whole and contains different Sufi meanings symbolizing spiritual ascent.
In this ceremony, clothes, postures, movements and parts all have significant meanings and in keeping alive the tradition of spiritual music, thorough research is always made by the ensemble to revive forgotten poems and bring them to the public to be enjoyed once again.
The immense and informative structure of the Mevlevi Sema ceremony and Devran Dhikr will offer an experience in which the audiences are not merely spectators but participants in a spiritual practice with centuries of history.