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Dhikr ("pronouncement" or "rememberance") is a Sufi religious ceremony whose liturgy may include recitation, singing, instrumental music, dance, costumes, incense, meditation, ecstasy, and trance. (Touma 1996, p.162)
The goal is to bring about hadrah ("God's presence"), and its presence marks the climax of the performance regardless of the formal structure. Musically this structure includes several secular Arab genres and can last for hours. (ibid, p.165)
The hadrah section consists of the ostinato-like repetition of the name of God over which the soloist performs a richly ornamented song. Often the climax is reached through cries of "Allah! Allah!" or "hu hu" ("He! He!"), with the participants bending forward while exhaling and stand straight while inhaling. The articulation of the name of God progresses as follows, with upward beams indicating inhalation and downward beams indicating exhalation:
Dhikr_hadrah_articulation.PNG
Dhikr hadrah articulation
At the end the participants should be in a trance and the ceremony ends with a song of prayer.
Source
- Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music fo the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340888.
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