The Sufi men's choir from Sarajevo, Nesidu-I-Huda, represent the deeper side of a centuries-old tradition of peace and tolerance between the different creeds of Bosnia. The choir, conducted by Mehmed Bajraktarevic, was founded in 1985, and since that date they have continued to sing the music of their faith, notwithstanding the exceptionally difficult circumstances prevailing in the region.

The sound of the voices is above all of an oriental nature, due to the many years that the region was under Turkish rule, but there is also the influence of the popular music of the Balkans music which sounds more familiar to our Western ears, in spite of its earlier origin.Some of the chant texts are by the great Persian poets Rumi and Hafez, and others are Turkish Sufi poems, a few of which have been translated into the language of Bosnia and adapted to the classical forms of the ilahijas (hymns of praise) or kasidas (ballads which tell of the exemplary life of the Prophet Mohammed).

The Nesidu-I-Huda Ensemble was founded in 1985. Due to the political situation at the time, the ensemble was defined as a youth choir from Sarajevo, until the fall of the Communist r‚gime in 1990 allowed the official re-opening of the Tabatchki Mosque in the city. The mosque had been the meeting point for the choir, and it was there that they had received their training.The group then took on their present name "Nesidu-I-Huda", which signifies "divine teaching" or "word of God", in tribute to ilahija Hƒfiz Senad Podojak, one of the best singers and authorities on the Koran in Bosnia.

Three of the founder members continue to perform in the choir: these are the brothers Mensur and Ridwan Varaki, who have been responsible for establishing the choir's repertoire, and Fariz Pecar, widely recognised as an authority on Bosnian Islamic history and culture. The other founder members either died during the war or have left the group. Mensud Basic, Samir Varaki, Suad Zadik and Hafiz "Hafiz" ha sortit abans com "Hƒfiz". Podojak joined the choir in 1990, and the other members joined during the course of the war.

Nesidu-I-Huda owe their basic repertoire to the Varaki brothers. Their grandfather was a rufa'i dervish and their father often attended the tekkiye, although he himself never became a dervish, such a thing being impossible in the social climate that existed during the Communist r‚gime. Since the end of the war, Nesidu-I-Huda have been invited to festivals such as that at Teheran in 1995, the La Bƒtie Festival in Geneva the following year and the Festival of Religious Music at Fez. Their performances have served to demonstrate the importance of Bosnian culture, whose foundations lie with both Islamic spiritual tradition and Western cultural heritage.

Present-day Bosnia-Herzogovina lies within the same frontiers as the Bosnia-Herzogovina of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1878-1918). The country was later absorbed into Serbian, Croatian and Slovakian No s¢c gens expert en la història d'aquesta regió, però a l'original no hauria de ser "eslové" i no "eslovac"? L'angl_s seria "Slovene". territory, and in 1929 it became part of Yugoslavia, until in 1946 it became one of the six republics of the Popular Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The country did not recover its independence until the end of the 1992-95 war.

Four centuries of Turkish rule in Bosnia-Herzogovina (1463-1878) resulted in the majority of the population, both in the towns and in rural areas, being converted to Islam. This in turn brought about significant changes in the culture of the country. Gold- and silver-work, carpets Carpet = catifa. També‚ podria ser "tapestries", per penjar a la paret., tanning and leather goods came to be activities of importance as well as architecture and town planning, above all the construction of numerous mosques, tekkiye (convents or meeting places for dervishes), schools and libraries, all well-known buildings in Sarajevo.

The conversion of Bosnia to Islam as from the end of the 15th. century brought about the foundation of many Sufi orders. These brotherhoods of dervishes have remained active to the present day, although their activities were of necessity semi-clandestine during the period of Communist rule. Orders of note are the rifƒ'iyya, the qƒdiriyya, the naqshbandiyya and the mawlawiyya.

The language of Bosnia is Serbo-Croat, although it differs slightly from that of the neighbouring countries in that it contains many words and phrases of Turkish, Persian and Arabic origin. Cyrillic script is used for personal correspondence, as the Arabic alphabet was the vehicle for poetic and literary texts.

As from 1930, the Latin alphabet has come into common use.

Sufi music, the music of experience Víctor Pallejà de Bustinza, professor de la UOC

Song, together with poetry and rhymed prose, is considered to be the natural means of communication everywhere in the Islamic world. Without the influence of music, there is no true word, so much so that, as in all traditional cultures, the belief is that nothing of importance can be communicated unless it is spoken in music.

There is therefore much love and respect for music, although it can also constitute a menacing, perilous force. Due to its highly ambiguous character, music can never be banal, and the what, how, when and who of Islamic music have always been a subject of debate between the greatest minds of a culture characterised by its subtlety and willingness to engage in argument. The use of music in a religious context has always been especially controversial, although until the puritans came to power a significant feature of recent years the supporters of banning music from religious life never won the day. It is true that certain limitations have always been accepted: while it is recognised that there is real virtue in music, such virtue is dependent on the ethical attitude of the listener. Authentic Sufi music therefore strictly adheres to a set of rules established by a tradition of masters. Without their teaching, it is not possible to appreciate the profound significance of the music.

The Sufi brotherhoods have always gone to great lengths to safeguard these principles. A positive vision of the effects of music and poetry derives from an optimistic attitude to life, which in conjunction with a joyful understanding of religion admits a certain degree of ambiguity and some real risks. Thus the division between sacred and secular music is established in a different manner, with a conscious desire to build bridges between one and the other.

For many centuries, before and after the influx of many peoples into the Middle East, Arab music and poetry, grafted onto the sounds of Iran and the aesthetics of Turkey, gave rise to a great variety of music. Some time in the 10th. century something strange occurred which has never been satisfactorily explained everyone suddenly began to sing of the exaltation of love as a vital experience. In the 12th. and 13th. centuries, thanks to the brotherhoods, this evocative music spread throughout the Moslem world.

How could princes, philosophers, the man in the street and the hoi polloi sing in praise of the personal experience of total love? Absolute love for a specific person or idea was an almost unknown experience, even more so if the object of devotion was human, and if the person in question was a woman, the experience was exceptional indeed. In every society up to that period the only existing absolute was of a divine nature and unattainable to Man. Nothing of that nature could be obtained in this world. "Mad love", represented by Majnân, whose name means just that "mad", consists of a limitless love for Layla "night" resulting in loss of control over speech and actions. A person living only to think and sing of his beloved rejects all social convention. Despite the sophistication of the metaphorical explanations and all the imaginable justifications sought after now and earlier, some specific circumstance led to ecstatic love suddenly occupying an important position within Islam and other closely related civilisations, upsetting the structure of society and perplexing all concerned.

At the limit of acceptability and characterised by a calculated or in some few cases not so calculated degree of ambiguity, this music aims to manifest and communicate to the audience the exact moment of arrival of the hour of truth (al-haqîqa). For this reason the members of the brotherhoods, the Sufi (mutasawwif in Arabic), are called "men of experience" (dhû'l-wajd), or "sons of the instant" (ibn al-waqt).

Moving from East to West, the qawwalí (singers) of India and Pakistan, such as Faiz Ali Faiz and Rehmat Ali Qawwals, follow in the line of an extremely rich musical tradition which is an integral part of Moslem festivals and the customs established in the courts of the great Sultans. Communication with God and the social conventions of royalty have always moved very much in parallel.

Commemorations of the death of a holy man called "friend" (walŒ) are of great importance in Sufi repertoire. The musical celebration sama ("listen") is one of a series of diverse devotional activities. The music begins by praising God always in Arabic, Persian, Urdu or other languages from southern Asia and the dialogues between voice and instruments vary in intensity until the moment of highest religious exaltation is reached. The ever-present theme of love has now a single object . God but a great variety of subjects, all representing absolute beauty. Improvisation is part of a process leading to a state of ecstasy in which the presence of truth allows all to be said.
Master (Sheikh) Barrayn is a maddâh a singer of maddƒh repertoire from Upper Egypt, in the same way that Faiz Ali Faiz is a qawwalŒ from India. The names are different, but the essence of their music has much in common.

The particular genre of these musicians are the "praises" stories concerning the Prophet Mohammed and descriptions of the virtues and supernatural powers of the saints or "friends of God". There are also love themes sung in a slightly simplified classical Arabic. This music has been known to exist at least since the times of the famous sultan, Saladin.

Sheikh Barrayn studied the ancient tradition of Upper Egypt (Sa'îd) at the University of Al-Azhar in Cairo. As is habitual in Sufi singers, he is a master in combining popular idiom with a profound knowledge of the Koran and the most orthodox Moslem customs.

Accompanied by tambourine and drums, his singing frequently changes mood serious or anecdotal, with sincerity or musical elation (tarab) true emotion.

The art of the Neshidu'l-Huda Ensemble is an example of the Ottoman traditions which have been established for centuries in the Balkan States. The survival of this musical culture has been nothing less than heroic, and its traditionally open attitude is greatly moving, with compositions by poets of universal stature such as the Persians Rûmí and Hâfiz so much favoured by the Ottomans being sung together with texts by Arab, Turkish, Bosnian and Albanian poets.

Accompanied only by drums, the voices sing the zikr from the Arabic dikr, "remembrance, invocation of God" in unison or in the form of responses. Following a period of persecution, this ecstatic music has only very recently moved out of its home territory, special permission having been granted for the brotherhood to break with their usual reluctance to move beyond their customary circles. It goes without saying that to hear them is a privilege indeed.