Musique et mystique dans les traditions de l'Iran.

• Author: Feldman, Walter

The genres and repertoires of Sufi, or Muslim mystical music are at the point of intersection of religious music, art music, folk music, dance music, music of healing and trance. In several Muslim countries a full understanding of the mutual relations of musical genres is impossible without accounting for the role of the Sufi musics today or in quite recent times. Nevertheless, the living Sufi musics of the Middle East have received scant attention from ethnomusicologists.(1) Using textual sources, several authors (e.g., Nelson 1985) have mentioned the medieval Sufi musical "audition" (sama), while presenting the arguments for and against music within the Muslim legal tradition. Yet, Lois al-Faruqi had advanced a model of the relationships of musical genres within Muslim religion and culture in which no mention was made of Sufi genres (al-Faruqi 1985). Given this dearth of discussion, the appearance of During's book is most welcome.

Musique et mystique constitutes the bulk of During's These de Doctorat d'Etat (1986), the first part of which was published in 1988 as Musique et extase: L'Audition mystique dans la tradition soufie. Musique et extase placed During's research squarely within the study of Sufism, rather than ethnomusicology. The book is divided into three chapters: I) "Les mythes et les rites de l'audition mystique," II) "Dhikr et sama," III) "Le sama de Mowlana Rumi et de derviches mevlevis," as well as a short appendix on sama and dhikr in the writings of Ruzbehan Baqli Shirazi, and a longer one on the status of music in Islam. The most original parts of the book are chapters I and II and the second appendix. Chapter I is a lucid exposition of the significance of musical audition to the medieval Sufis. Chapter II briefly distinguishes between the concepts of dhikr and sama, Chapter III on Rumi and the Mevleviye is heavily dependent on Aflaki and is marred by a lack of sources for the Mevlevi tradition after the fourteenth century. The second appendix prepares a balanced summary of the legal arguments about music, using much of the same material which had been presented in a rather more orthodox fashion by Nelson (1985) and al-Faruqi (1985). Unfortunately During never attempts an ethnomusicological view of the role of music in pre-Islamic Arab society, although this is fundamental to an understanding of later developments within Islam. Despite its limitations, Musique et extase is a lucid and valuable introduction to the issue...