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Sufi Music at
AUC

Ahmed Sami
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Dim lights. Incense.
The music starts. On a Ramadan night suffused with spiritual evanescence,
the Adham Center at the American University in Cairo (AUC) hosted a
solo performance by the Sufi musician Dr. Ahmed Samy in the Oriental
Hall.
All 150 seats
were occupied and people were sitting on the stairs next to the hall
doors waiting for the music to begin.
The audience included
both Arabs and foreigners who had come to enjoy the first Sufi music
night to be held at AUC.
Ahmed Samy played
seven pieces: poems of Ibn 'Arabi, Shems - The Sun, Kamar - The Moon,
a kasida of Ali Mahmoud, Ya Nasim as Saba, Ya Hussein (original composition
by A. Samy), Ya Nasim al Riah (The Soft Wind - words by Al Hallaj and
music by A. Samy), and Ya Huwa. Every piece was followed by a warm round
of applause from the attentive audience.
"It was refreshing
and wonderful to hear Sufi music, especially in Ramadan," said
Hajar Gouverneur, a photographer.
Mostapha Majzub,
director of a children's educational company and also a Sufi, said that
he found the evening very enjoyable and the music marvelous. "It
is such a pity that no oriental musician can play without a microphone
as Samy does," said Majzub. "The real voice is much better."
Rasha Al-Habashy,
an employee of the SIDA company, said that this was her first time at
a Sufi musical evening at all. She said that she liked it very much
and would attend Sufi concerts in the future.
"I have attended
a number of Sufi musical performances but this is my first time at AUC,"
said Mohammed Desouky, a physicist. Desouky
said that Sufi music is very spiritual and reflects the inner reactions
of human beings and this makes it special. The rhythm of the music helps
reveal much of the human subconscious, Desouky said.
The initiative
to organize the event came jointly from Abdallah Schleifer, director
of the Adham Center, and Shems Friedlander, chairman of the Adham Center's
International Advisory Board, said Dr. Samy.
"They
had seen me play at a number of religious gatherings and suggested that
I come to perform at AUC," Samy said.
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This is Samy's
first performance at the AUC and he hopes to repeat the experience in
the future.
"I think that events similar to this bring people of different
backgrounds and cultures together," Samy said. "This evening
gave a chance to people, both American and Egyptian, to interact and
share moments of spirituality." "I
think that the evening was great," said Friedlander. "Sufi
music is about spiritual involvement," he added.
Earlier, the Adham
Center had sponsored earlier an evening of poetry and music by the mystic
poet Rumi.
"It would
be great if we could organize an event like tonight's once a year or
once a semester," said Friedlander.
By
Yara Fahmi
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