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Books > Music > Musical instruments & instrumental ensembles > Wind instruments > General
In 1968, Turkish whirling dervishes accepted an invitation by
UNESCO to perform in Paris for the first time, to the delight and
fascination of French audiences. Kudsi Erguner, a Sufi musician
specialising in the ney (reed flute), was amongst them, and
accompanied the dervishes throughout their subsequent tours of
Europe and the United States. Istanbul's Sufi community. In the
tekke, the traditional meeting-places for dervishes, he grew close
to the last great representatives of this community and was
inspired by their words and music. He experienced their
astonishment at the growing interest of Westerners in a culture the
elders believed was doomed to extinction under the repressive laws
of the Turkish authorities. In the West, Erguner would go on to
meet other adepts of Eastern spirituality, including disciples of
G. I. Gurdjieff and adherents of traditional music. He thus became
aware of the fascination that the East exerted on Westerners, as
well as the misunderstandings arising from this attraction.
community, but also to relate the encounter of traditional Sufi
culture with the Western world. He raises issues relating to the
transmission of a teaching both musical and spiritual and the role
of a 'traditional' musician.
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