World Renowned Ensemble Fanna-fi-Allah Comes to Sebastopol on June 23
The Bali-based group, which plays Sufi Qawwali devotional music, will play at Subud Hall for one night on its world tour
On Friday, June 23, locals will have a rare opportunity to hear live Sufi qawwali devotional music when Bali-based ensemble Fanna-fi-Allah plays at Subud Hall on S. Main Street for one night on their world tour.
Per the ensemble’s webpage (www.fanna-fi-allah.com), its founding members have spent more than 22 years learning this traditional form of music from some of the great Indian and Pakistani qawwali masters in an effort to present the music in its authentic form. During the last 18 years they have built a cultural bridge between East & West, embodying a universal message of tolerance and offering audiences around the world a unique glimpse into the rich and vibrant culture of qawwali.
Sufism, often described as the mystical branch of Islam, involves the inward search for God and is associated with ecstatic states of trance sometimes arrived at through music, dancing or “whirling,” and poetry. Believed to have existed since the earliest days of Islam, Sufism developed into orders in the 12th century.
Qawwali emerged in what is now India and Pakistan in the 13th century as a form of Sufi devotional music and is traditionally sung at Sufi lodges and shrines. Its purpose is to induce a trance-like ecstatic state which brings the listener greater awareness of their relationship with God.
In addition to learning directly from living masters, Fanna-fi-Allah, the only Western-born qawwali ensemble, have played qawwali at the tombs and shrines of revered Sufi saints in Pakistan and India. They have also recorded more than 10 albums and produced an award-winning, 8-episode documentary, “The Music of the Mystics.”
Tahir Hussain Faridi Qawwal, the group leader and manager, launched his online music school, the Samä School of Music, in March 2020. It offers courses teaching voice mastery and how to play the harmonium, the tabla and more. He also leads retreats and workshops in Bali.
Sebastopol local Kenan Azam, the event producer, said, “I had taken some [music] courses with the group online during the pandemic … and then I heard that they were doing a world tour. And, yeah, I just asked them, ‘Hey, you know, do you want to pass through Sebastopol?’ And they said, ‘We would like to.’”
Azam arrived in Sebastopol six months ago after resigning from a decade-long teaching job at a college in San Diego and then traveling for a year and a half in search of meaning and community.
“During the pandemic, I sort of became disillusioned that my work wasn’t really making any meaningful contribution to society and the world. And I was quite concerned,” he said.
He now runs local business Potential Paradigms Media (see event sponsors below) and facilitates guided meditations for individuals and groups, including a meditation class at Soft Medicine, in Sebastopol, every Friday at 9 am.
“Part of organizing this concert is that frequency, I would say, of me wanting to do more creative things and also share them with the community at large,” Azam said.
Event co-producer Bhavani Judith Tucker curates Bhavani’s List, a comprehensive list of musical events across the Bay Area and California featuring devotional music of all traditions (www.bhavanislist.com). Event organizer Eric Spiegel, a local community organizer and dance enthusiast, also organizes for CircleSing Sebastopol (Group), PULSE Partner Dance Collective and Synergy Ecstatic Dance.
Doors to the June 23 Fanna-fi-Allah event at Subud Hall, located at 234 Hutchins Ave. off of S. Main Street in Sebastopol, will open at 6:30 p.m., with the opening prayer and concert beginning at 7 p.m. The six-piece ensemble’s devotional ecstatic music includes singing, a chorus, tabla drums and group clapping, as well as a traditional whirling Sufi dancer. The event will end at 10 p.m.
Tickets cost $25–$55 and are available for purchase online here. VIP tickets are available and allow access to the musicians in the Green Room, with light snacks and drinks.
Event sponsors include Heart-Centered Revolutions, a nonprofit dedicated to raising human consciousness through accessing the natural intelligence of the heart (www.heartcenteredrevolutions.org) and Potential Paradigms Media, a nonprofit that facilitates wisdom discovery and insights on emerging paradigms in a period of radical collective transformation, through conversations, panel discussions, workshops and communal inquiry. (www.potentialparadigms.com).
Additional sponsors are needed. Interested parties may contact: azam.kenan@gmail.com.
Tickets are still available, and the event is expected to sell out.
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