With Sirojiddin Juraev (above & below) in Tajkistan
We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.
The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world’s harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing…
— Rumi
In addition to studying Sufism in Tajikistan, one of the other reasons why I keep finding myself returning there is to study the shashmaqam–a refined Central Asian music tradition which uses Persian Sufi poetry–especially the poems of Rumi and Hafiz–to create lyrical melodies infused with the spirit of Sufism. In Dushanbe, I studied dutar (a two-stringed long-necked lute) with a folk music master, who treated me to a mini-concert (Rumi lyrics included) every lesson. To listen to the soulful sounds of shashmaqam, click on the video above (the beautiful singing comes in around the 4:00 mark), and to see a true dutar master at work, click on the video below (all that sound from just two strings!). Today, all over Tajikistan–and Uzbekistan–Rumi’s words and memory live on in the shashmaqam…
