"Mystical Music of the Middle East"

Last week, I was able to attend a really awesome event on campus. Every year, Susquehanna has a lecture or presentation on campus concerning religion, called the Alice Pope Shade lecture. This year was the presentation “Mystical Music of the Middle East,” a performance by the Yuval Ron Ensemble. The ensemble performed music from Jewish, Christian and Muslim (particularly Sufi) traditions and included performers of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. The Yuval Ron Ensemble was very passionate about bridging divides through music. They applied this to their audience, as well, as they encouraged us to sing or dance along to certain songs.

It was very interesting to hear spiritual music from another part of the world. This semester I am taking a course called Music in Christian Rituals, so the idea of worship music has been on my mind a lot. It was really fascinating to hear Yuval Ron talk about how, in the Hasidic Jewish tradition, they will sometimes just sing songs on a certain syllable, instead of any meaningful words, to connect with God. This is so counter-intuitive to me because I’m used to thinking very seriously about the words of a worship song. Often times, I think the lyrics are the point.

Watching the ensemble then sing in that manner, though, I definitely came to see how that could be a way of connecting with God. There are some situations where words just fail to capture the immensity or complexity of something, and worship certainly seems like a situation that fits the bill.

The best part of the performance was definitely the whirling dervish. “Whirling dervish” is a term I had heard about before, but it's a completely different experience to see one. Basically, a whirling dervish is a Sufi mystic who does a spinning dance that is meant to bring the mystic into a religious state. This description or any description cannot really capture how enchanting that whirling is. The dervish spun with such speed, ease, and grace that it almost seemed physically impossible. While I am not about to become a dervish myself anytime soon, I can definitely see how that would be a transcendent, spiritual experience for the whirling dervish--especially since I think even those watching get a little taste of that.

In addition to promoting cross-cultural experiences through it GO program and study abroad opportunity, Susquehanna is delivering those breathtaking encounters with other cultures right on campus. I was a bit tired the night of this event, and I easily could not have gone. In retrospect, I am very glad that I did.