Turkish Mevlevi Music

Turkish Mevlevi music is the sacred repertoire of the Mevlevi Sufi order, the whirling dervishes founded on the teachings of the 13th-century mystic Jalaluddin Rumi. Its centerpiece is the ayin, a composed suite in a single makam sung and played through the sema ceremony as dervishes turn in meditation, framed by the ney's lament and the kudüm's pulse. Composed by lodge masters from the 17th century onward, it is the most prestigious branch of Ottoman art music; UNESCO proclaimed the sema ceremony a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage in 2005.