From popular tradition to pop diffusion: Jahrī zikr among teenagers in present-day Kazakhstan

This essay examines a very established practice, called dhikr (????) in classical Arab, and zikr in the local version that I researched in Southern Kazakhstan. Both terms can be translated as ‘remembering, recollection, repetition, remembrance’. Such remembrance and repetition are based on the name of God (Allah) and/or on some of His traditional ninety-nine divine names; in general, the practice has a central value in Islam but it acquired a particular importance within Sufism, in which flourished many forms and methods for zikr. In Central Asia, zikr was repressed and prohibited during Russian and Soviet rule, but, after the 1991 fall of the USSR, the practice ‘recovered’ and returned to the light. Yet, in Southern Kazakhstan this phenomenon presented some curious aspects: reconnected to the heritage of the medieval poet and Sufi saint Ahmad Yasavi (1103?1166/67), who lived in the area, zikr was performed mainly among teenagers who often learned it by diffusion, i.e. through mass media, music cassettes, or through the repertoires (transcribed and analysed here) of a polyphonic ensemble, rather than by the traditional master?student method of transmission. Privately, zikr was also used in order to cure various forms of addiction among Kazakh youth, thus reviving the historical therapeutic functions of zikr.

L'articolo prende in esame la curiosa attualizzazione osservata nell'attuale Kazakhstan di una pratica antica tipica dell'Islam e, soprattutto, del sufismo: lo dhikr ("ricordo", "menzione", "ripetizione del Nome/dei Nomi divino/i"). In una particolare corrente composta da teenagers, lo dhikr era stato riveduto e corretto per propagare (dawa'), grazie ad una oralità secondaria e mediatica, un ritorno all'Islam e alla spiritualità.In altro senso lo dhikr veniva usato per curare dialle dipendenze tipiche di una società urbana moderna come quella del Kazkhstan e, in particolare, di Almaty. L'articolo è accompagnato dalla trascrizione e dall'analisi degli zikr cantati.