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Nourredine Khourchid & the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus( Syria)
In the Sufi tradition, music possesses powers associated with meditation, ecstasy and a state of grace. Those qualities are referred to as sama ("listening"), experiencing music in a spiritual fashion. Since the 13th century, they have been associated with the trance-producing qualities of spinning dance.
 
The Whirling Dervishes of Damascus have captivated audiences throughout the world with their spellbinding mystical dance that dates back to the 13th century when Rumi, a towering figure of Sufism, created it as a means of ‘spinning off’ worldly diversion to find oneness with the Divine. Their dance is said to have derived from his spontaneous poetic outpourings, which would occur while he spun around the pillars of mosques. The turning is also described as a kinesthetic representation of the greater cosmic whirling of the universe. 
 
The participants continuously spin to the left, hands raised in prayerful gesture, often with the right elevated towards heaven and the left curved towards the earth. The trance state that is reached through the spinning is a type of meditation that is said to create a direct and complete union with the divine. What impresses the audience throughout the world the most about this unique meeting of art and faith is the simplicity of spiritual devotion.
 
The deep yet celestial voice of the great vocalist Noureddine Khourshid seems to materialize the presence of almost metaphysical Whirling Dervishes. 
 
His mastery of Koranic recitation enables it to perfectly control the inshad (religious song).
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