Konya Sufi whirling dervishes London event sold out

Whirling dervishes performing at Cadogan Hall in 2007. Photo: Chris Christoforou 

NEWS/UK

An event in central London presenting the Mevlevi spiritual traditions of music and dance from Turkey has sold out. A capacity audience of 953 people are expected at Cadogan Hall on Friday evening to see the Konya Sufi Music Ensemble, where musicians and whirling dervishes will perform a ceremony based on the teachings established by the 13th-century Muslim scholar, poet and mystic Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi.

The Sema ceremony comprises of seven sections of both vocal and instrumental compositions that use contrasting rhythmic cycles performed by a small group of singers, a neyzen (flute-player), a kettledrummer and a cymbal player.

Cadogan Hall, 2007. Photo: Chris Christoforou 

Friday’s event was free to the public, with just a booking fee charged, following the generous sponsorship of the event by the Turkish Embassy, Yunus Emre Institute London, Turkish Culture and Tourism Office and Ziraat Bank.

Cadogan Hall, in Chelsea, has previously hosted whirling dervishes from Turkey as part of UNESCO’s ‘Year of Rumi’. 

The performance in 2007, also a sell-out, formed part of the 800^th anniversary world tour to commemorate the life and work of Mevlana Rumi. 

Konya, in central Turkey, is globally renowned for its Mevlevi traditions as it is where Rumi spent much of his adult life, before he passed away there in December 1273.