Istanbul Music & Sema Group
Sha Tin Town Hall, Nov 14, 8pm; Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, Nov 15, 8pm
Judging from the recent performances by the 'high priestess of oriental dance' Leila Haddad, the Mediterranean Arts Festival organised by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department is more about showcasing arts from this region in their rawest and authentic form than jamborees for curious tourists.
The Whirling Dervishes - a Sacred Ritual by the Istanbul Music & Sema Group is no exception.
The whirling ceremony, also known as sema, is a spiritual performance that uses poetry, music and dance to cleanse the mind and soul. The ritual is said to be influenced by the prominent 13th-century Turkish Sufi mystic and poet Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi (1207-1273).
The programme is made up of two parts: a Sufi music concert and sema. The latter begins with the dervishes taking to the floor, dressed in their symbolic costume: sikke (tall hat), tennure (white dress) and hirka (black cloak). They whirl with their left feet firmly on the ground, their right hands turned heavenward to receive God's grace and their left hands turned down to convey that grace to the people.