Chicago had one
of its amazing nights ever with The Whirling
Dervishes of Rumi from Turkey. The dervishes not only
brought the peace and love which were badly needed, but also they brought
a wonderful tradition of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, which is known as
Sufism. Over 1600 people came to The Legendary
Chicago Theatre to watch this mesmerizing seven century
old ritual. After the program seeing how people were affected by the
Sema Ritual and the Classical Turkish Music was definitely worth the
6000 miles trip the dervishes made.
Cities like Cleveland
OH, St. Louis MO, Bloomington IN, Indianapolis IN, Madison WI, and Milwaukee
WI also hosted The Whirling Dervishes of Rumi. In these cities over
7000 people had a chance to see the Sema Ritual and experience the Sufi
Music. One of the highlights of the program was the complimentary DVD
given out to each member of the audience, which featured a documentary
on the life and the teachings of Rumi. The documentary was
produced by the Visual Media Department of Niagara Foundation.
After the Dervishes returned to their hometown, Konya, we got hundreds
of e-mails from all over the Midwest regarding how wonderful and incredible
the performance was. Voicing different feelings and impressions, everybody
agreed on one wish: "We want the Whirling Dervishes back!!!"...