SUFI SAMÂ AT DERVISH BROTHERS
December 2023
Konya, Turkey
A film by Vincent Moon
Produced by Petites Planètes, Rana Gorgani, Souffle Collectif
Images by Vincent Moon, sounds by Julien Colardelle
With Rana Gorgani, Sadegh Azmand, Nasim Gorgani & Yosra Mojtahedi
« Years ago, I was reading “Juego y teoría del Duende”, a small book by Federico Garcia Lorca, where the Spanish poet tries to define the idea of the ‘duende’ - the ghost, the spirit, the divine manifestation… in performance. I got so excited by that notion that it became the main path for my researches on music - a large quest on that rare moment where “something else” transcends and manifests itself through someone or a group of people, in any cultures, in any settings. When I first met Rana Gorgani, it was on the set of a music video for Joy Division some years ago. We turned a rave into a Sufi circle, and that encounter opened many others. We became friends, and she often mentioned her relationship to Konya as a key passage on her spiritual path. I asked her if I could join this time in December during the Seb-I Arus, the week dedicated to Rumi’s memory. She agreed, then invited Sadegh from Teheran, while Yosra and Nasim were completing our little Persian ensemble. We gathered all of us one afternoon in the magnificent Dervish Brothers space, and opened an improvised Samâ - without planning anything. Letting the spirits of the place guide us, Sadegh opened his voice, Nasim and Yosra were beating the daf, Rana stood and turned, faster and faster. I was filming and turning in ecstasy. At some point my camera got too close - it hit something. A bang in the space. I think it was the duende. »
WATCH THE COMPLETE PLAYLIST - • IMPRESSIONS FROM KONYA •
10 films from the official and impressive Sema ceremony with 37 whirling dervishes to the long nights of dancing at Hiçhane or outside the mausoleum, from various collaborations of Sufi dancer Rana Gorgani with Ozgur Baba or Sadegh Azmand to entrancing circles all over. A cinema trip into the heart of modern and ancient sufism.
Rana Gorgani https://danse-soufie.com/