Flamenco

On the busy streets of Malaga, a young Spaniard is found strutting round the fisherman’s corner to go about his business. He looks around and establishes himself next to a raised platform and begins with the strumming on his guitar. Very soon, he’s found to be encompassed with doubling tourists and localiites who stop by his side on the onset of a foot-tapping rhythm. The cheerful artist breaks into a traditional number and encourages people around him to join in with beats and claps. The crowd cheers on the appearance of an eccentric dancer dressed in blood red with frills coiled round her lower body. She wins many a heart by her intricate footwork and graceful movements. The young musician strums with great enthusiasm and adds flavours of other traditional styles to enhance the joyous ambiance. The dancer eloquently adapts to his changing styles and entertains the audience with her versatility. Her performance is effortless and adds to the celebratory moods of the evening.
The Espanol culture, widely known for its richness and savory, is all about bull-fights, the Tomatita festivities, wearisome paella preparations and jigging the flamenco way. On special occasions, people overtly participate in carnivals, play with red juicy tomatoes, shove mounds of vegetables, chicken and marisco’s (shellfish) on their platter and groove to the catchy rhythms of traditional Spanish music. The Flamenco is an art form originally belonging to the gypsies’ era in the 1500s that dominates Spanish lifestyle and culture. Undoubtedly a rich source of entertainment, it is packed with emotions, feelings and deeper social messages. It is sure to leave you intrigued with the complex sequencing of the guitar chords, a hint of drama and hysterics to the style of singing and the streaming delicacy in the actions of a dancer. Flamenco takes you through ruffling layers of thoughts and expressions with its impalpable spontaneity and variance.
Originally believed to be born in Andalucía, the indigenous song-dance form is a part of everyday life of the inhabitants. To them, flamenco is a spice of passion, ground with a hint of romance and pulped with stories of bravery and courage. The mountains and the rivers, the haunting past beneath the tropical paradise have each a story to tell which is materialized with women draped in colourful shawls and polka dots, castanets and a hand on the acoustic guitar. Apart from being known for its gypsy tradition, the culture of flamenco belongs to the Arabs, the Jews and also the Andalucians. The palo or the style of music is branched into melodic, rhythmic and harmonic structures, all of which are basic elements in every form of flamenco. The instrumentation in terms of tempo and pace has undergone revolutionary changes over the last few decades. Percussion instruments like the cajon (box-drum), bongo and the tinaja have added new elements to flamenco. Today, the acoustic guitar is accompanied by a series of foreign instruments to bring out new combinations in beat and melody.
The striking similarity in the flamenco and Indian music is hardly an element of surprise owing to its vast historical events; the records date back to the emigration of Indians to the west, the gypsy settlements from the European nations and the increasing Persian influence back home resulting in the inter-mingling of cultures amidst foreign invasion. The Persian culture carried a wealth of diverse musical inputs and scattered out bejeweled ornaments of regional melodies. Today, irrespective of the ‘Indalucian’ blend as a consequence of the past, maestros worldwide have adapted to fusion forms of music for the best possible results. Popular forms include flamenco bondage with South Indian music, flamenco feat Indian tabla and blends of Indian ragas with flamenco to name a few.
A more or less seductive invention of the Spanish, the authenticity of flamenco still remains to be an argumentative issue. Otherwise known as the tell-tale tragedies of the gypsies, the flamenco in its concocted form is far more popular than the original. Albeit infamous for its erotic essence, it is a benignant practice of rejoice, a reason for sentiments to captivate and inundate every Spanish mind.

Sufism

Sufism is a mystical practice that guides a pathway to actualization of truth and single-minded focus towards the Supreme One. It cultures the inner mind and soul towards selflessness and adorns it with love, purity and Divinity. It is the heart of all religions that nourishes the inner self with utmost peace and spiritual well being. The ‘tariquat’ or the spiritual path carving the nuances of Sufism leaves an enthralling effect on the pilgrims of serenity. It has its roots in the Quran of the Islamic sect and refers to profoundness of truth and its importance.
It is hard to explain the existence of Sufism without the elements of music and the sand dunes that bear its origin. Sufi music has survived through the scorching suns of Africa and the mountains of Pakistan and Iran, sailing through the Atlantic waters to spread its influence in Egypt, Palestine, Uzbekistan and India to name a few. Its widespread popularity in the Middle-East and South-East Asian countries is inevitable owing to the philosophical roots and melodious compositions. The Islamic Sufis believe that the divine practice is a means to detach one’s soul from the physical self. This can be achieved by dissolving the physical realm into an ocean of spiritual oneness. The Sufi evokes to the soul’s consciousness and transcends to a state of trance, whirling and singing in ecstasy. The trance enables complete renunciation from worldly attachments and establishes a powerful connection of the soul with God, an achievement which is rare of its kind.
The very concept of Sufism lies in sounds that enhance spirituality and music that promotes sanctity. The Dhikr is considered to be the most integral component of the rituals of Sufi music. It involves meditation to concentrate all the divine energy to reverence. ‘Mawlid Annabawi’ confines to praising the prophets who serve people as messengers of God and his teachings. The rhythmic and instrumental practices of Dhikr depict variance as per the region of practice. The ‘Nay’, an instrument used in South-East Asian nations of Pakistan, Iran and Uzbekistan is a channel through the hollowness and purity of human mind to congregate the celestial powers of God. The reed flute, as the concept demands, is indeed hollow and resonating. Another instrument often used by Sufis, called the ‘Bendir’ or the frame drum in the West especially in Morocco is a symbol of repetition that materializes into a trance. It also represents pulsating rhythms of life at different stages or in philosophical terms, the cool calm layers of water bodies beneath the lashing surfaces of deep blue seas on the onset of torrential rains, tornados and rippling quakes. Later, more instruments like the santoor, sitar and tar, derived from Persian music added flavours to Sufi.
The dervishes (or practice of Sufi music) is said to have intangible healing powers. In Morocco, it is practiced for improving physical and mental health. The therapeutic purposes are served through the concept of ‘medicating the mind’ which is conveyed through various therapies. The Sufi brotherhoods implemented other uses of such mystical practices- protection from mental illnesses, scorpion stings and haunting spirits. They have diverse ways of depicting their musical practices with complex rhythmic and melodious modes. The contemporary widespread of Sufism is through its blend with other forms of music, which are more or less the most popular methods of promoting it. The ancient carriers of Sufism philosophy such as Rumi still prevail in derived modern forms.
The flourishing culture of Sufism is believed to be as a result of the explicit teachings of Prophet Muhammad and poetic messages designed by renowned philosophers such as Rumi and Al-Ghazali. Well-acclaimed for its diversity and uniqueness, the core message of Sufism remains the same: spreading love, peace, harmony and beauty through complete freedom of one’s soul from his body.

Sounds of music

Music is a gifted fruit of life-a divine multitude of delicacy richness and mellow coupled with benign sweetness. It is a world of sounds, modulated to seep through the soul and evoke a fountain of emotions to dance in merriment. In other words, it is a uniform stream of thoughts that amplifies our emotions and reiterates in resonance. Music is a journey through varied perceptions, tended and caressed with melodious inputs. Indeed an experience to cherish, music speaks the language of love, beauty, enigma, passion, harmony and peace as opposed to fear, jealousy, anger and grief. It communicates through the clinging of vessels and cutlery, honking horns and racing vehicles, running taps and splashing puddles. It flows through pearly white rivers and glittering oceans lashing out to enormous boulders. It lies in the strength of a new born who cries on its entry into the living world. It thrives within the physical self, a reason for continuance of life through the beating of the heart and a channelized flow of air through the lungs. It is a call of the first showers of rain, sobs of grief, tears of happiness and a medium of expression. It ends the day with hushed prayers and lullabies to make way for a blissful nights’ sleep and wakes up at the crack of dawn with a new commencement, a fresh series of melodious compositions to look up to.