2023-07-03 21:31:36
The whirling of the dervishes to the melodies of Sufi chants among the ancient columns of the Baalbek Citadel on Sunday evening, and the Muwashahat and Qudud celebrations of love and grief, constituted the scene of the second night of the prestigious Baalbek International Festivals, which is full of a varied program until July 16th.
And on the stairs of the Temple of Bacchus in the castle located in eastern Lebanon, the concert of the Al-Kindi band, which came from the Syrian city of Aleppo, was divided into two parts: the first was devoted to stanzas sung by the Syrian Omar Sarmini, and the second was devoted to Sufi chants performed by the head of the singers in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Hamid Daoud, during which he was accompanied by three dervishes.
The band’s artistic director, Egyptian percussionist Adel Shams El-Din, told AFP that “25 percent of the program is new, never before” for the band, which was founded 40 years ago by French qanun player Julien Jalal El-Din Weiss, to have presented it anywhere else.
Sarmini sang to the melodies of the flute, the tambourine, the qanun, the oud and the raqq, stanzas and qudouds of Aleppo that express love and grief. He flavored it with the song “Oh my heart, do not tire your heart” that sings of “the city of the sun”, as a tribute to Fayrouz and the history of the Baalbek Festival.
Sarmini also performed the Muwashah “Ya Bahjat Al Rouh” composed by Sayed Darwish. He delighted the audience by singing the poem “The Beloved Who Loved Him Came on a Travel” by the Syrian poet Boutros bin Ibrahim Karama.
The audience applauded warmly for a verse from Muwashah. The audience chanted with Sarmini the words “Malik, sweet Malik”, which was known as the voice of the late Aleppo artist Sabah Fakhri.
Sarmini concluded his connection with “Yamal al-Sham”, sang it standing and swaying, replacing the word al-Sham with Lebanon, Baalbek and his city of Aleppo.
Dervishes and chants
The second part of the party was dominated by a spiritual atmosphere through supplications and chants of praise and supplication, which spread a mystical climate that was soon embodied in the dance of the dervishes.
The vocalist, Hamid Daoud, began his connection with the call to prayer, which is followed in the Great Mosque of Bani Umayyah in Damascus.
Simultaneously with the chanting of “There is no god but God”, three dervishes joined the stage, taking turns in pairs and trios to meditate around themselves in their white robes and their hands raised with open palms towards the sky.
Daoud sang religious prophetic praises, among them, “With your praise, my God, I began my saying,” “Our prayers be upon the Hashemite Prophet,” and “O God of the universe, my support.” The link included solo playing on the flute, the oud and the qanun. Playing the flute “communicates with the soul,” according to Dawood.
In the chanting of “O God of the universe, O my supporter” and the chant “The full moon has risen upon us” and “Prayers for the one who is shaded by the cloud”, the three dervishes gathered in one painting, and each of them saluted the other before embarking on the dance.
And the conclusion was with the “Madad” chant, which included references to the Shiite sect, among them “Oh Ali, oh the joy of my eyes, oh imam of the soul, oh my support.”
Shams al-Din explained that vocalist Hamid Dawoud “included some of his chants with allusions to the Shiite sect,” to which most of the people of Baalbek and its region belong.
“The venue and the audience influence the musicians,” Shamseddine noted. The director of the band, which previously participated in the festival in 2000 and 2003, added, “Baalbek gives us something spiritual, thanks to its history, which we feel inside us when we play, and the interaction of the audience makes us very happy.”
The concert attracted an audience of different ages. Lebanese Eman Al-Sabbagh, 25, who resides in Australia, said that she was excited to attend Al-Kindi band due to the uniqueness of what she presented, and she liked the second part of the concert. “Fortunately, I bought the band’s record at the entrance. I will listen to it constantly,” she added.
As for the British, Emily Worton, who is married to a Lebanese, she commented in a statement to Agence France-Presse regarding the concert, saying, “I was amazed by the oriental musical style, which is unfamiliar to me. I felt the depth of the content of the songs, although I did not understand their words.”
The band’s artistic director said that the aim of establishing the band, which was named following the mathematician and musician Abu Yusuf al-Kindi, is to “spread Arab culture and civilization in the Western world.”
Gilbert Khoury, 40, who attended the opening of the festival on Saturday evening, said the ballet show by the star dancer at the “La Scala di Milano” Roberto Boullet, and he came once more from Beirut to watch the Canadian troupe, “The dervish dance tonight following the ballet yesterday is the most beautiful expression of cultural diversity in Lebanon, this is what I love regarding this country, despite all the difficulties of living in it.”
Diverse programme
On Friday, the festival will continue with a third concert, specially produced for the Baalbek Festivals, titled “Roots in Our Hands from Spain to Beirut” by Spanish musician Nacho Arimani.
The work includes flamenco dancer and singer Fabian Daher and the choir of Saint Joseph University, in addition to musicians from Lebanon and Spain.
The Baalbek audience will also have a date on July 14 with the Lebanese singer Melhem Zain and his orchestra, and his most prominent old and new songs will sound in the castle’s sky.
The festival will end on July 16 with a concert entitled “Voodoo Cello”, where the Franco-African singer Imani will stand on the steps of the Temple of Bacchus, accompanied by eight cellists, a performance that has achieved success in Europe.
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