LAHORE: Fabulous Whirling Dervishes, who came all the way from Turkey, held a fairly good audience spellbound at Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on Wednesday.

The Istanbul Historical Turkish Music Ensemble came to the cultural hub of South Asia for a magnificent performance in connection with the 70 years of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Pakistan.

The event was organised by Lahore Arts Council in collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Turkey.

In his brief welcome address, Lahore Arts Council Executive Director Atta Muhammad Khan said it was a matter of great pride and honour to have whirling dervishes in Lahore. He requested the audience not to clap during the performance as it was all about meditation and a rare spiritual experience.

Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan S Babur Girgin said Allama Iqbal considered Jalaluddin Rumi as his murshad that’s why this ensemble had come all the way from Turkey to perform here and pay respect to Iqbal.

Minister For Culture and Information Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, who was the chief guest, reached the venue some 20 minutes late from the scheduled 7:30pm time. The Turkish ambassador and artistes had to wait for him. To many in the audience, the delayed arrival of the minister left a bad image on the delegation.

The minister said: “Turkey is the favourite development partner of Pakistan and the brotherly relations spanned over some 100 years or so.”

An artiste from the Whirling Dervishes ensemble Ismail while talking to Dawn said he visited Pakistan for the first time and it turned out to be a great experience.

The performance opened with the recitation of the Holy Quran, after that Na’at was recited by the ensemble. The next performance was Reed Flute Improvisation. Peshrev, another performance, was an instrumental work.

Then four salams were said, the music in this section was composed with the nine beat measures of evfer rhythm.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2017