Live Sema recording (audio only) from a Sufi Dhikr and Sema run jointly by sufi guide Nirtana and multi-instrumentalist Monty in Denmark at Denmark Yoga Centre on 14th of April, 2024
With special guest vocalist Barbara Schmidt
The premise for each of these sessions is to focus on improvisation, choosing a single rhythm and a single music mode, raag or makam in which to focus each Sema. This allows a deep journey into the potential of each musical configuration - utilizing various instruments which feature various timbre and overtone configurations to reach into the etheric body and provide healing or stimulation as necessary for the promotion of cultivating a devotional mind and more broadly - self-realisation.
Music used in this way is an ancient and sacred practice. We must distinguish it as separate from the common Western interpretation of music as primarily self-expression or for performance. Here we use music as a kind of spiritual science which allows it as a vehicle for attaining higher spiritual plains, grasping higher truths and within this using music as therapy which allows that which is required to be released within any one individual to be released - realigning various dynamic energetic organs of the non-physical aspect of the human which then allows for realisations of the true nature of the self - or the most direct pathway to get there.
Improvisation engaged in this way by the musician becomes a reciprocal force and communication between the musician and all those energetically present. No one performance is the same because no one energetic context is the same, ever - every 'performance' is unique to the needs and permutations of the 'atmosphere' - which is created unintentionally and collectively by all beings present.
This Sema was based on a 12 beat rhythm which is a soul number - broken up in the fashion of 3-3-2-2-2 - at times resembling two 6-6s and at times 3s only - allowing for poly-rhythmic integration of these numbers and their significance for each individual.
The mode we focus on in this recording is heavily influenced by Raag Bhupali - which is a healing Raag for releasing hypertension. It is most commonly relatable to the Major Pentatonic scale in western theory which is similar but is not the same as Raag Bhupali as Raags are not just notes in a scale used at random as is the interpretation of a western scale. The specific use of swaras/notes in Indian Raag allows access to various specific energetic bodies - music engaged in is not just a passive listening as entertainment but rather an intentional participation by all beings present.
Sema in one sense is oneness and embodiment as the music - the dancers are the music as much as the music is the music. There is no clapping afterwards - there is no temporal reward for having performed - there is simply wholeness and participation.
Using Sema with music in this way allows for specific healing journeys within the practice. Sema (the sacred period of time in which 'whirling' is practiced) comes from a much deeper root than the time of Rumi in mimicking the motion of the spheres which has been happening as long as there has been a single celled organism. It is a process of unfolding and submission to the divine and in this recognizing through relinquishing ego and returning to vulnerability our oneness and connection to this all encompassing divine.
The footsteps you hear in the recording are real people whirling - as it is a live recording.
Find this recording on Insight Timer: [link coming!]
Bandcamp: https://indance.bandcamp.com/track/music-to-whirl-to-vol-1-live-sema-music
Credits:
Vocals - Barbara Schmidt
Guitar, Vocals, Udu, percussion, live looping, Kaval - Monty
More about Vivienne:
Nirtana Vivienne is a Sufi guide, retreat guide and representative of the Inayatiyya lineage and a mentor in the Dances of Universal Peace who hold an annual week-long retreat in Denmark. Nirtana represents Australia on international committees and offers group and individual retreats and workshops as well as acting as a Sufi guide to murids (those who desire). Contact: [email protected]
More about Barbara Schmidt:
Barbara Schmidt has been sharing her sound healing gift in various settings in West Australia. When she sings, she channels something magical and special, connecting people to a bigger dimension offering a journey to the heart.
This gift came to her 25 years ago when an aura reading teacher instructed her to meditate and sing every day for a week. After that week her voice all of a sudden switched to overtone singing. Barbara had never heard a sound like that before. It's a gift that stayed with her and accompanying her husband on his transition journey has opened up a new dimension for her she didn't have access to before. She now feels it is time to share this gift with others. She incorporates simple somatic experiencing exercises to help prepare bodies and minds for the sound healing experience. More info: https://www.counsellingsomatic.com.au/concerts.html
Video edit by Monty and was taken from footage from Sema in Denmark, Western Australia at Lyra House on the 9th of Feb, 2024
The logo design and the mandala design are original creations of Jessica Berry of Denmark https://linktr.ee/kuuspells
#sema #bhoopali #raag #healingpowerofmusic #whirlingdervish #rumi #musictherapy