Turkish classical music by the group Meydan Musiki and the Sema ceremony by Mevlevi Dervishes (Riga)

Harun Korkmaz – voice

Harun Korkmaz, a musician, researcher of music, founder of the Library of Music Literature, ancient manuscripts and music sheets, was born in 1990 in Erzurum, located in the North-East of Turkey, closer to the border of Armenia, but went to school in Istanbul. In 2011 Harun Korkmaz graduated History Department of the University of Istanbul, and in 2014 he started his master at the branch of the History of Ottoman Institutions and Civilization at the same department. His master thesis “The Catalog of Music Manuscripts in Istanbul University Library” launched his doctoral thesis about the manuscript lyrics codices which he is working on at the time being.

Harun Korkmaz works in the Institut of Turcology Researches of University of Istanbul. One of the benefits is his free access to the most extensive collection of ancient musical sheets of Turkey. Since his university years he has been interested in everything related to history and musical performance, he has been collecting various archival materials, and established an extensive library that includes plenty of musical books as manuscripts and printings.

Harun Korkmaz took part in hundreds of musical programs and concerts, introducing Turkish music in such countries as Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Hungary, Latvia and even Australia. He also participated in academic and musical programs on the radio and TV. As a researcher Harun continues working on topical research articles.

Ahmet Cavit Altinkaynak – ney

Ahmet Cavit Altinkaynak was born in 1995 in Ankara. He started taking ney (red flute) and music lessons in 2009, tight after high school. Ahmet was learning under the guidance of neyzen Ekrem Vural. During that time he attended classes on Classical Turkish Music Repertoire, classical ney style and Turkish music theory. Since 2011, as one of the leading neyzens, he has been participating in Mevlevi Ayin ceremonies held annually to honour the memory of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi.
Ahmet continues his studies at ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory. After death of his first teacher Ekrem Vural, kept on improving his skills under the guidance of another neyzen – Salih Bilgin. He played the ney in many radio broadcasts, and in 2015 he joined the “BEZMARA” musical ensemble established by Fikret Karakaya. Its repertoire embraces musical pieces of the early Ottoman period. He also took part in the concerts by the ensemble “Birun” under Kudsi Ergüner in March 2016.

Since 2018, he continues giving ney lessons at Kadıköy Municipality Youth and Art Center.

Engin Baykal – kudum and bendir

Engin Baykal was born in 1951 in Manisa, in the Western Anatolia, being famous for its ancient musical traditions. After getting his high school education he entered the Turkish Music State Conservatory in 1976, where he was studying at the musical instrument department for two years, and was learning the bendir and kudum. In addition to his music education he also performed on stage. In 1995 he was accepted to the postgraduate program, finished his education successfully with a PhD, having completed his education. Except for his musical activities, he continued improving his skills, studied percussion and rhythm at the Turkish Music State Conservatory. Engin Baykal founded Mevlana Education and Culture Association, and is giving many concerts around Turkey and abroad under its auspices.

Yusuf İhsan Tökel – Tanbur

Yusuf Ihsan Tökel is a many-sided personality – a musician, blogger, engineer and IT-specialist. Yusuf was born and grew up in Samsun, located on the Black Sea coast. In 2016 he graduated Istanbul Şehir University, having obtained a degree in Engineering. Yusuf is a multi-instrumentalist, he masterfully plays the ney (reed flute), the oud (string plucked instrument) and the tanbur. Yusuf started learning musical instruments in 2005. His first musical instrument was ney. Being inspired by playing the ney, in 2008 Yusuf decided to try learning string instruments and started practicing the oud, further, in 2011, – the tanbur. Yusuf’s talent gained recognition. A significant event in his life became his participation in music concerts at Yunus Emre Institute and in educational mini-concerts in Poland in 2015, as well as in the concerts dedicated to Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi in Iran in December 2016.

This year, for the second time Latvia will give home to the Sema ceremony, with all its canonic contours

The Mevlevi Sema ceremony has become well known all over the world, in 2005 UNESCO proclaimed the Sema ceremony a Masterpiece within the framework of the UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Mevlevi Sema will be demonstrated to a wide audience to the Sema canonic music, which remained intact since foundation of the Mevlevi Order in Konya in XIII century, and which is going to be played by the Turkish musicians.

The ceremony and its participants

The Mevlevi Sema ceremony. The ceremony includes singing, musical accompaniment, whirling, recitation of verses and prayers, and where mandatory is wearing symbolic clothing. The Sema ritual appeared due to the inspirer of the Mevlevi Sufi order, a poet and a mystic Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi (Mevlana). According to the legend, once Rumi heard rhythmic sounds of goldbeater hammers in the city market. In a series of beats, made by apprentices during gold casting, he could hear the rhythm of words “La illaha illa Allah” (“There is no god except Allah”), which put him into a state of ecstasy – he opened his arms wide and started whirling. This is the way the Sema ceremony appeared. In the times of Jalaluddin Rumi Sema was performed by a mystic whim, despite time and location, at the moment a believer got inspired and felt spiritual ecstasy.

The Mevlevi believed that Sema consisted of three stages of maturity: natural one – attracting people by dance, music and singing; spiritual one – conceiving divine mystery in the souls of mature Sufis; and, finally, Divine one – performed by those, who abide in the depths of divine mystery and remain connected to it.

Sema is a rather complex ceremony. It consists of recitation of praise to the Prophet, musical improvisation and whirling, followed by the second part, consisting of four musical and whirling sections, called ‘selams´, which are finished with instrumental music along with the Quran recitation and saying prayers. The Mevlevi ceremony symbolizes the path of Miraj (Ascension) of a human to the shrine of divine love, including all the stages of this path. The Sema is an allegory for a meeting with Beloved God.

Before the start of the ceremony semazens line up, with their hands chest-crossed and put on the shoulders, and big toes of the right leg put on big toes of the left one, symbolically pacifying their worldly nature and showing repudiation of worldly desires. Dervishes appear in conical felt hats, and in black cloaks. The cloaks are taken off during the dance and the dervishes stay in white clothing. Such change of clothing is interpreted as the beginning of a spiritual journey in this world.

When a dervish whirls, his long skirt opens its folds like a white lily flower, but in fact it symbolizes a shroud for Ego, and a conical felt hat – its tomb stone. While doing the Sema, a dervish, or semazen, grows through the desert of his personal ego, ascending to Divine Love, and returns from his spiritual journey in a more mature and perfect state. The dervish does whirling by moving clockwise around the axis of his heart, as if hugging with love and tenderness the whole world and moves around at the same time. Prior to the beginning of whirling he keeps his hands crossed upon the chest, as a sign of obedience to God, and then he opens his hands wide. His right palm is turned upwards to the sky, as in prayer, ready to receive the blessing, and the left palm – downwards to the earth, giving the blessing to it. The semazen turns into a conductor of Divine Grace. Symbolically the Sema means turning of worlds around the Sun of the Truth – this memorizing and longing for reunion with the Almighty bring passion to those who perform the ceremony.

The Sema is performed by Mevlevi dervishes from Riga.

Tickets can be purchased:

• on Biļešu Serviss website www.bilesuserviss.lv,
• at Biļešu Serviss ticket desks around Latvia.

VEF Culture Palace – 27.09.2019. – 19:00