TAYBAH SUFI CHANTS
The sufi-inspired vocal group, Taybah, was born in Avignon. The group consists of a soloist, Junaid Bourret (chanting and daff), supported by Ismail Bourret (solo and chorus), Omar Jouineau (chorus), Larbi Benmelouka (chorus), Zachariyya Thibon (chorus) & Zayd Bertrand (daff). Sidi Muhammad Said directs, accompanies & introduces the group during their performances. The group formed itself around the art of oriental chanting and decided in 2002 to go into production. The group is occasionally accompanied by the percussionist & Master of lute, Basim Qadmani.
CONCERTS:
Taybah�s concerts in 2003, Sufi gatherings of Avignon, and a concert with the group Nabalsy were enriched by the presence of the calligrapher Makhfi. In 2004, the group was invited to the annual gathering of Bourget (Paris), as well as other gatherings in Geneva, Brussels, & Marseille in front of a large public. By the end of 2004, two concerts that were held at Mantes and Avignon provided the group with the chance to perform with the Syrian artist Noureddin Khourchid (notably invited by the IMA in 2002/2003 to Paris, in his capacity as leader of the group Nabalsy, for the IMA Thursdays, Festival Les Orientales de Saint Florent le Vieil and in Morocco for the Festival of Tanger-Tetouan).
TRAVELS:
In 2003, Taybah accomplished its first trip across Turkey and Syria. Some improvised concerts led them to perform in Istanbul and Konya, and to meet up in Aleppo with the some famous performers such as Haffar, Sabri Moudallal or Sheikh Habbouch, all of whom the group will have the pleasure of chanting with, as well as the Master of the qanun, Julien Weiss. The group also met up in Damascus with Nourredin & Ibrahim Khourchid, as well as Hamza Chakour, who shared some secrets of his art. In 2004, while on a trip to Morocco, the group chanted in some private circles in Tangiers, Fez, Meknes and Marrakech. Other travels will take place in Europe as well as abroad.
SUFISM:
According to the Qur�an, the Prophet Muhammad [Peace Be upon Him] was sent to all mankind as a luminous torch, a symbol of light, of science and the divine perfections. On his blessed tracks, the spiritual masters of Islam have not ceased to transmit this inner light to their disciples. The first followers of this Path were known as Sufis. From this term, the word Tasawwuf or Sufism is formed to designate the science and the practice of this spiritual tradition, issued from the Divine Revelation and the teachings of the Prophet.
A Path of love and knowledge, Sufism calls for crossing, under the guidance of a spiritual master, the stages that lead to the realization of the essential unity of being & the prophetic perfection. According to Imam Ghazali, the sufi seeks to erase within oneself the physical creature by extinguishing the ego in the divine oneness. Hence, one finds one�s primordial nature (fitra) and identifies oneself, degree by degree, virtue by virtue, up to what Sufism calls the universal or perfect human, upon which the model is the Prophet.
The Sufi Path counts in the world numerous followers and by their form, they seem far from the ascetics of the earlier centuries. One of the masters of the 3rd century of the Hijrah [9th century A.D] used to say that Sufism, after having been a reality with no name, had become a name without reality. However, the Path comes from the Absolute and not from the physical, from God and not from humans, and therefore emanates from the very essence of Divine Mercy in its permanent actuality and remains accessible to any pure soul searching for the truth.
Hence, God�s Gate is always open and the world will never be in short supply of men who will point the way. Following the Sufi Path implies that one should conform, internally and externally, to all the divine and prophetic teachings while waiting for the illumination of the heart by the Grace of God. In order to prepare the disciples, the masters have privileged certain individual or collective rituals, such as invoking and repeating God�s name (dhikr). To elevate the souls and open the hearts, they set up the chanting of poems (sama�) whose meaning and melody provoke an ecstatic feeling (wajd) and the swinging of the body. The aesthetic dimension of these practices is not sought for itself, it is only a reflection of the beauty of the Divine Light, reflected by the Prophet, in the heart of the Divine Presence (hadra) demonstrated in the meetings of the sama� and dhikr.
The Sufi Path brings in the West a response to all those who aspire to internal perfection and truth, to all those who are sensitive to the beauty of the Sacred. For Sufis, all traditional arts are considered as contemplative disciplines and some forms of Sacred Art: poetry, plastic arts and more particularly calligraphy, music, reflections of the primordial light, are all possible avenues of contemplation and spiritual attainment.
