All
Ben
James
Lavinia
TansyWelcome, guest
Sat 14th March 2009
Sufis in Lahore
We have now been stuck in Pakistan for some time and haven't yet managed to get our hands on a visa for Iran. Anyway, fortunately Pakistan is an interesting place.
The first week we were here we partook in a few Sufi events, the first was a private audience with the Sufi night drummers, the world renowned Gonga and brother who came to the guesthouse and played on the rook, this is the first picture. The next event was going to see the night drumming at the shrine, which I think is the second picture. This is by far the most captivating event. We arrived for about nine and graciously were fed due to the Nawabes birthday and hundreds of people tried to cram into the tiny shrine courtyard. The night drummers arrived around eleven and started to play a bit later. After a while a space was cleared for the dancers who moved to the beat of the drum which took them into a sort of trance as they waved their heads and spun around. This lasted until two when we all got a lift back and went to bed.
The final picture was I think a large Sufi festival where we were well received and the fourth picture you might see me dancing on stage which they all seemed to appreciate. Anyway, the amount of guns was really strange to us, (the third picture has the organiser in the foreground who had a bad habit of waving the gun in the air with a finger on the trigger). It seems to be more prevalent here as several of the important Sufis also came and left with their own personal guard.
by Ben - get rss
name Alison
Can't see any women in these pictures! Did you feel a bit intimidated Tansy by being so outnumbered - or was that only a minor part of the strangeness? I expect the guns were even more intimidating!
name francesco
wow!that gun is not so nice to see yes??!how are you guys??..i try to imagine your situation...:Ben is playing always the same song with always a strong passion (he is the artist), tansy is the organisator or organisatress(i think those words don't exists) talking with all the strangers, lavinia is talking too with all the people with lot of interest(is not sarcastic) and making photos!!!..and james..i don't know..maybe someone has brought him to drink something heavy!!(hey james..did you manage to make more points than me in guitar hero??)...but..now seriusly...i want to wish you a wonderful continuing as all your trip was and is...take care of you!!i'll come to visit you in England!!!
