Dervish (Orchestral)

for orchestra

“Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God.”
-Qur’an Surah Baqara 2:1115

The Dervish are members Sufi Muslim mendicant ascetics known for their poetry. Unlike the Mullahs, they have taken vows of poverty. The “whirling Dervishes” dance comes from the Mevlevi Order in Turkey who traces its origin to the poet Rumi. The dance slowly accelerates over minutes or hours to an ecstatic spiritual climax. The sect is still active in Turkey, and is led by Rumi’s 20th great-grandson.

This Dervish does not attempt to imitate traditional Mevlevi music (which typically includes a male choir). Instead, I have borrowed freely from Middle Eastern music, Romani music, Bollywood, and contemporary classical techniques. The main reference to the Dervish is in tempo. The work very slowly accelerates through the first half before collapsing into a “perpetual” accelerando in which the tempo constantly accelerates even while the overall feeling of motion remains strangely constant. The work ends with a dramatic rit. all the way down to quarter=0.


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