Modou's rehearsal

Another evening when Matt was here was spent hanging out with my saxophonist friend, Modou.  I met him through the American saxophonist, Damien, who played in Milim (Modou was taking saxophone lessons with Damien).  I've never met anyone more enthusiastic about the saxophone than Modou, and I've also never met anyone so dedicated:  he practices 8-12 hours a day.  He puts me to shame in that department, that's for sure.

Modou is a mouride, a Sufi of a uniquely Senegalese sort, and as a mouride is devoted to his religious leader, a marabout who in turn is devoted to the Grand Marabout who resides in the holy city of Touba.  The mourides are known for their strong work ethic, and clearly Modou's practice regime reflects this.  Anyway, this is just a bit of background to introduce the group my friend Modou is involved with, called La Mélodie Divine.  It is a musical ensemble comprised of mourides who follow the same marabout, and is devoted to worshipping Allah through music - in Mouride Sufism, music is not considered profane but is considered a worthy way of showing one's love for God. 

Modou was excited that Matt was in town, since I told him that my husband is also a saxophonist and a saxophone professor.  He desperately wanted Matt and I to listen to him play with his ensemble and to critique him.  So we went to the rehearsal and I got out my soprano (he wanted me to play and the rest of the ensemble was welcoming) and Matt (who hadn't brought his sax w/ him) just watched / listened.  The ensemble consisted of a female chorus of maybe 20 or so, a male chorus of about the same, plus percussionists, a keyboard player, a kora player, a bassist, a flutist, 3-4 trumpet players, a clarinet player, maybe 6 violins, and Modou on sax.  An ecclectic mix, to say the least!  The rehearsal began with a zikr (a sort of devotional meditation) with no instruments, just singing and drumming and moving.  The movement couldn't be described as dance, really - more like just slight steps back and forth in time.  Gradually, the tempo increased and the intensity of the chanting / singing increased.  Like the zikr I witnessed in Turkey, the rhythm helps propel the person into a trance, or at least into a more focused, devoted state.  For Modou and the rest of the ensemble, it also clearly filled them with extreme joy.  Eventually the warm-up devotional ended and the group proceeded to work on a piece that was partly composed and partly improvised.  I played along with the winds, some simple accompaniment figures, since I didn't want to interfere too much.

All in all it was a fascinating experience for me and Matt - we had never witnessed anyting quite like it.  I must confess that I felt a little out of place, given that the music was a part of an active process of worship to which I was uninitiated / unfamiliar.  Nevertheless, everyone was incredibly gracious and very interested to hear our thoughts about the music.  Modou was clearly proud of his group, and he says they hope to perform soon at the upcoming holy pilgramage to Touba.

Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal, which was held at a local elementary school:

People warming up.

Here's Modou warming up.

Modou and his posse.

The violin section.

The girl's chorus.

At Modou's request, here is a link to his mouride brotherhood's / marabout Cheikh Ahmadou Kara's website:  http://www.karacom.org/  From here there is a link to his group, La Mélodie Divine, but it seems that you have to login to have access.