SUFI MUSIC IN ARABIC EXPRESSING  A DIVINE LOVE AFFAIR, LIBERATING THE SOUL THROUGH DIVINE ECSTASY AND BLISS EXPERIENCED THROUGH DHIKR 

Throughout the ages, holy men have felt a burning love of God. The Sufi sages expressed this love through prolific writing, poetry and songs. Rumi and Shams Tabriz, the 13th century Sufi poets wrote about this Divine love affair with God in a stirring and evocative way and musicians whirled and sang Sufi music to express this Divine Love. Bliss and spiritual ecstasy through complete liberation are the themes found in this genre of music, traditionally sung in Varsi and Arabic. The Sufi Music of Desert Rose is mostly sung in the Arabic language. Arabic has its roots in Semitic languages namely Aramaic. When sung in a repetitive chant, this sacred practice is referred to as Dhikr.

                                                      There are many paths to the Divine,
                                  I have chosen the way of song, dance and laughter.- Rumi

This Divine love found its expression in Dhikr, the practice of chanting. These Diwans, or Divine songs, or odes of love, were sung repetitively leading one into a state of bliss or ecstasy or what is referred to as annihilation of oneself in God. Destroying the ego and the self and merging with Gods love through Sufi Music.

This Sufi music was also used in the Sacred Dance, the Sema or whirling dervishes, where with the combination of Sufi music and whirling on a fixed place, one would enter states of bliss and ecstasy. This theme is found in all religions in different forms. The Sufi music of Desert Rose has especially captured the attention of the West, where people have spontaneously gone into blissful states of connection with God without the religious dogma attached to the experience.

Yusuf, the lead singer for Desert Rose, was born into a Sufi family. He started singing and leading devotional Sufi gatherings since the age of 10 and through his Naad voice has opened the hearts of thousands all over the world since his first solo album, The Prayer, in 2008.