Out of the mouths of rural boys, finding the incomparable Mulla Nasrudin in Afghanistan. After my first year of art school in San Francisco in 1978, I quit, and headed to the Banff School of Fine Arts to do a year long residency program. The instructor Hu Hohn got me hooked on Sufi stories such as, "The Exploits and Subtleties of the incomparable Mulla Nasrudin". Mulla Nasrudin is a Sufi wise-fool, trickster like figure. These books were chock full of funny little contemplative mediation stories. I would read these riding the bus at night and such, to get me through trying days. Later in 2008, I'm in the central highlands of Afghanistan, in Bamiyan, where the colossal Buddha statutes were destroyed by the Taliban. A stark, arid, severe, beautiful landscape, people scrapping by, subsistence farming, much like my grandparents did in Syria. I'm filming scruffy little country boys in a new school built by Western troops. The boys are speaking Hazaragi (a Farsi dialect), via my translator but never having the time to translate responses. At the end of each session, we ask them to tell a joke or a song, something other than the conversation we’ve tried to record. Six months later when I’m back home and the rough transcript translations have been sent to me from Quetta, I discover, lo and behold, then and there were the very same Sufi stories – thirty years later – being told by these scruffy little country boys at Laisa-e-Aali Zukoor boys school, Bamiyan, Hazarajat, Afghanistan. These few days I’ve been working with my Afghan collaborator, Khadim Ali, he’s based in Sydney currently. We’re trying to work through the time zones, which goes hand in hand with the other displacements of the overarching pandemic time and space. Many thanks to the impeccable Khadim Ali, and to the translator and eternal wunderkind Muzafar Sanji; to Mohammad Zia, our stalwart driver and safe-keeper who deftly transported us over unspeakable rutted goat trails aka roads; and to all who shared with us a mat to rest or sleep on, stories, food, curious minds, and warm hearts.
This documentary by Ahmed EL Maanouni consists of footage of concerts, interviews and the final performances by the music group Nass El Ghiwane, which shot to fame when Scorcese discovered them as “the Rolling Stones of North Africa.” Nass El Ghiwane emerged from the poor outskirts of Casablanca, fusing elements of traditional Moroccan music such as Sufi chants, mystic Berber rhythms and dances of the gnawa, to create their own sound.
UntitledA quest for Al Khadir الخضر, the inner master. Al Khadir, a character generally unknown in Western culture, occupies a very important place in the popular and mystical knowledge of the countries of the Islamic rhizome, although its origins go back to ancient times. Al Khadir, literally the one who greens, inhabits the in-between world, the no-man's land, the fine interstice between the real and the unreal, life and death, sleep and wakefulness,.... this place is called Al Barzaj, the Isthmus. Where he passes, everything greens up, even the tracks of his footsteps are immediately covered with grass.
Archivo de Proyectos 1994-2026
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CA EN ES
Toni Serra *) Abu Ali
/ ... /
/ CONVERSACIONES /
/ VIDEO ENSAYO 2001-2016 /
/ ... /
/ THE BLACK TAPES / TV CODE /
/ BABYLON ARCHIVES /
/ ... /
/ 1989-1994 /
/ ARCHIVOS DE TANGER /
/ EL HAMDULILLAH TAPES * PIRATE UTOPIAS & EUROPEAN RENEGADOES /
/ FEZ CIUDAD INTERIOR /
/ LA VIGILIA Y EL SUEÑO /
/ DUAR MSUAR /
/ LA LLUVIA EN DUAR MSUAR /
/ ... /
SOBRE PAJAROS Y VISIONES
Imagenes Previstas
Abrir la visión
No solo un cambio.
Migra Visions 2.0
Migra Visions
La Gente Invisible
Entre el Agora y la Frontera
Soviet Derviche
Broken Films
Fez, Ciudad Interior
www.al-barzaj.net
Toni Serra *) Abu Ali
/ TONI SERRA *) ABU ALI
Los hatillos de trigo esconden los pinchos del azufa
Toni Serra *) Abu Ali
/ VIDEO ESSAY 2001-2016 /
/ THE BLACK TAPES / TV CODE /
/ EL HAMDULILLAH TAPES * PIRATE UTOPIAS & EUROPEAN RENEGADOES /
/ THE RAIN IN DUAR MSUAR /
Entre el Agora y la Frontera
Toni Serra *) Abu Ali
/ TONI SERRA *) ABU ALI
The sheaves of wheat hide the thorns of the jujube... drops of blood are sown in the dust
the woman's belly enters full moon... announcing a still-distant October
the harvest is a time of Remembrance, of gratitude.
There is a glut of wealthy in the city of Saba. Everyone has more than enough. Even the bath stokers wear gold belts. Huge grape clusters hang down on every street and brush the faces of the citizens.
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The Islamic Sufism is an ancient religious movement. On some issues it is in opposition to the common or fundamental Islam. Therefore sufism has been suppressed by both the religious and political powers. Through ecstatic dancing by misic and meditation the sufi seeks oneness with God. Most recognised are the whirling dervishes but the påractise of sufism can also take other forms.This video shows sufirituals as performed in Syria which have relationship with the practise of the fakirs. The tradition is passed on from generation to generation.The video shows beautiful but also very profound and violent images.
Sufism is the original Islam, in contrast with the Islam that we see nowadays. Sufism doesn't accept any form of fanatism or violence. In these days, when a war between civizations threatens the world, any serious intend for the understanding between East and West cultures is more than necessary. This documentary leads to the comprehension of the Islam's original philosophy, through the interviews with some sufi masters (Sheikhs) and their followers around the world, and giving special attention to the chapter about the so-called “Islamic Terrorism”.
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This documentary produced in 1973 is a remarkable document on traditional Islamic culture in Afghanistan before the country met with the disasters of ideological struggles and civil war. To a Muslim sensibility, its importance goes much further. It is an objective and respectful testimony to the profound, essential aspects of the spiritual culture of Islam, captured by a Western filmmaker.
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