Customer Reviews

Jilala: Sufi Trance Music From Morocco

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The quality may not be superb, according to new age listening standards that require their sufism all scrubbed up and ready for easy listening digestion, but this is a fine recording of a real intoxicated sama. Real sama is rarely recorded and available by CD. Most of what is available are performances. Close your eyes and listen, you'll know what steps you need to take next.

Recorded by Paul Bowles in the '60s, this music provides a unique experience - an authentic Sufi healing ceremony. Yes, it is old and the quality might not be the best. But overlook that. The cultural value of this recording is immense. Perhaps you are familiar with the works of, say, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and other qawwali singers? Well this is yet another branch of Islam's mystical heritage, recorded in the raw. All the same passion and intensity, but without the clever studio gimmicks. It is real devotion, real passion, real healing. And it shows. Compared to most studio releases, this is much more sparse, relying on chanted vocals and simple North African instruments. But this only adds to the mystique of this CD. Slowly, each track builds in tempo and intensity, until it almost vibrates with raw faith and emotion! It is a beautiful thing to experience, and I strongly advise anyone with an interest in Sufism to purchase this CD for themselves. The only disappointment is that more ethnographic information about the Jilala Brotherhood and their practices wasn't included, but c'est la vie I suppose. This is still the next best thing to actually being in Morocco itself.

for some the problem with this recording is that because it was recorded indoors the sound of the drums (bendir) overwhelm the flutes (qasba or shebbaba) echoing off the walls...unless you are sitting right next to the flutes this is the way it sounds.....there is another recording of jilala taken in a tent and the flutes come through clearly....

This recording is actually quite old and it shows. The production values are low enough to make this of little interest except for ethnomusiologists or very serious students of Islamic mysticism.