by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

The approaches are very different, but the goal is the same. The dervishes of the Sufi strain of Islam, such as the troupe from Allepo, Syria, who are visiting Montreal, use a dizzying circular dance to transcend the material world and achieve a moment of intimacy with God. The sacred chants of the Gregorian monks, as performed by the singers of Montreal's Schola Saint-Grégoire, do likewise.

"With the Gregorians as with the Sufis," says the Festival du Monde Arabe's artistic director, Joseph Nakhle, "the musical act happens with the intent of liberation from the ego's illusions, the world's mirages and the mind's presumptions."

Both disciplines are centuries old, but they've finally come together, thanks to the Festival du Monde Arabe currently happening in town. Le Cercle de l'Extase is an idea that has been brewing for several years, according to Nakhle.

"The idea was, at its base, a question - if the sacred, or the need for the sacred, is universal, then there must be a way to confront these aesthetic expressions with one another, to contrast and blend them.

"In the Andalusian era, there were certainly mutual influences. The art of the time shows an extraordinary movement of fertilization. But our project isn't about the historical links. It's a modern-day experience which finds its purpose in the intimate rapport between these two sacred disciplines."

This is serious stuff, as Nakhle explains. "The music of the Gregorian singers is a personal prayer, just like the dancing of the Sufi dervishes. It's not an ornament or an accompaniment to the texts. It's the music that gives substance to the prayers."

Thus, throwing the two together isn't as easy as, say, mixing peanut butter and chocolate. "This encounter is a sort of validation of this idea of universalism that is anchored in us. This perception, very old yet reinforced by modernity, is of the human, meaning something fundamental, essential and common to all.

"Keep in mind that this isn't about showing the similarities, the harmony between the two. It's really about the differences, the difference in the paths that lead to that same place. Truth is, equality and music don't mix. It's the variations and discrepancies that excite us. The objective here is to draw from this immense field of possibilities, to transcend borders and shake up a certain peace."

At Théâtre St-Denis on Sunday and Monday,
Nov. 9 and 10, 7pm, $25–$68

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