Hà Nội Report | The Đồng Thầy

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

It was a packed temple today... and as I arrived somewhat later than I expected, the choice spots were taken by audience members who refused to budge to accommodate a foreign photographer....and understandably so because the officiating medium was Hung Hoan Tien, a đồng thầy, a master-teacher in his craft with a long list of followers and students.

With patience and some gentle insistence, I managed to insert myself in a place with a reasonably unobstructed view of Mr Hung, and able to photograph the ceremony despite the video strobes and the dangling lamps.

Mr. Hung eventually singled me out for a special "blessed" gift of a currency note rolled around a lit cigarette, and it was then the audience realized I was not a stray tourist who accidentally passed by the temple but a genuine Hầu Đồng cognoscenti, deserving of nods of appreciation and acknowledgement. 

It was my first visit to this temple on the other side of the Red River. It's a famous and well known temple, and the narrow alleys which lead to it are lined with small eateries and religious trinkets.

I am planning a lengthy interview session with Mr. Hung in the coming week, and will include it along with others in my forthcoming photo book Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Việt Nam.

Hà Nội Report | Hầu Đồng'ed To Max

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Yesterday has been a long day in the saga of building more inventory for my forthcoming photo book Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Việt Nam.

A morning Hầu Đồng ceremony officiated by Nguyễn Sien at her private temple took roughly four hours, then it was off by motorbike to catch a larger ceremony officiated by Phương Hin in the Gia Lam district.

Whilst the fundamentals of these ceremonies are the same, the individual personalities of each medium is reflected in the tenor of the incarnations. Some mediums are more extroverted than others, have more charisma and know how to play the already receptive audience.

During Nguyễn Sien's ceremony, the amplifier used by the chầu văn musicians malfunctioned, and they had to perform without the benefit of electronic amplification. To my ears, this was infinitely better as it did not sound "heavy metal", and was more in keeping with what must have been the sound of this devotional music years ago before the advent of electronics.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Although there were no trances as such during the morning ceremony, I noticed a member of the audience who seemed completely overtaken by Sien's "performance", and by the devotional songs that accompanied the incarnations. Completely oblivious to her surroundings, she started to slowly but surely drift into a pseudo 'trance', mirroring with her fingers the movements of the medium, and keeping time with the music. She then awoke from her dreamy condition, smiled and returned to her full consciousness. She was also amongst the audience at the larger ceremony later in the afternoon, so must be a hard-core devotee of Hầu Đồng.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

The afternoon Hầu Đồng ceremony was held at one of the largest temples in Hà Nội, and was attended by about 30-40 people. It is my understanding that Ms Phương Hin is connected by marriage or by friendship to chầu văn musicians, so they joined the ceremony in force. Ms Hin has been involved in Mother Goddess ceremonies for a number of years, and is also a frequent assistant to other mediums.

The talent of the mediums who officiate these ceremonies lies primarily on their femininity  (if incarnating female spirits) and machismo (when it's male spirits). That said, their incantations and exhortations to audiences are key to their credibility as mediums. I recorded a few moments of Nguyễn Sien's incantations, and although it is a raw recording, the strength of her conviction is quite evident.

Hà Nội Report | In Phúc Yên

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved

An interesting day was in the offing as I met with Ms Kim Nga to drive to her home town of Phúc Yên; about an hour and a half drive from Hà Nội this early morning. A small Hầu Đồng ceremony was scheduled to start at a private temple at 8:00, and it promised to involve rites that I hadn't witnessed before. I hoped that would turn up to be the case for my photo book Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Việt Nam.

Ms Nga is a final year student of Economics at the Hanoi National University of Education, and although her grandmother is herself a Hầu Đồng medium, she's only interested in its cultural aspects.

After an obligatory breakfast with the chầu văn musicians (one of them is Ms Nga's uncle), the ceremony started without much fanfare. The attraction in such rural ceremonies is that they're not as pomp and circumstance as those performed in the large cities such as Hà Nội, where money and donations flow virtually unchecked.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved

I will not describe here the ceremony in details, but suffice it to say that it was the first time for me to witness a trance by an audience member during a ceremony. The woman was near me when she suddenly started to sway with the music, eyes closed in a beatific and rapturous expression until she finally collapsed. It was a joyful trance; none of the violent paroxysms that I had seen in other situations and other religious traditions. Her friends and family around her were smiling as if she had received a gift. Although there were other unusual occurrences during the ceremony, this was the most notable.

The ceremony ended at 12:30, and although we were pressed to share lunch with the 20 or so people involved in the ceremony, we had to leave to be with Ms Nga's family.

The owner of the house, upon knowing I was from the United States, proudly shared the information that he was part of the Viet Kong during the Vietnam (or American) War, and as they were barefooted, they would take the boots off the US soldiers killed during battle. I explained that I did not serve in the US Military and that I was against the war...so I would appreciate him not taking my shoes that I had taken off before entering his home. This, when translated, elicited chortles and chuckles from the audience. Phew!

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy | All Rights Reserved

We were welcomed by Ms Nga's family at her grandmother's home. A family of rice farmers, deservedly proud of their daughter, they had lived here for generations. The grandmother's house had beautiful ancient wooden pillars inscribed in Chinese characters, and on the walls were photographs of the family's ancestors. We sat down to a feast, and the hospitality and generosity were truly exemplary.

Following lunch, Ms. Nga's grandmother (Ms Le Thi Teu), a septuagenarian Hầu đồng medium welcomed us to her room where she conducted her ceremonies before she retired in 2008. AlthoughMs Teu is tiny, I sensed she was made of steel. She is a woman not to be trifled with, and is probably the master of her household. The interview of around 20 questions was conducted by Ms Nga in Vietnamese, whilst I recorded it. Ms Teu's insight will be interesting as she lived through the French occupation and the Socialist government which both discouraged (and even prohibited) Hầu đồng ceremonies.

On My Way To Hà Nội

Very early morning Friday will see me boarding a Cathay Pacific non-stop flight to Hong Kong, and onwards to Hà Nội to add to my inventory of images of Hầu Đồng ceremonies, particularly of those which are conducted in rural areas, as well as to conduct more in-depth interviews of master mediums, fortune tellers, and hát chầu văn musicians.

These will help me to complete my photo book Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Việt Nam, or Các Cô dồng Của Việt Nam as it's called in Hà Nội. This work-in-progress has taken over my photography life, with all its ups and downs that are associated with long term projects of such nature.

My favorite hotel, The Golden Silk Boutique in the Old Quarter, is already booked and all is set for my arrival on Saturday February 20.

This time, I'll be carrying two Fuji X-T1 bodies with the latest firmware 4.30 installed, and 5 lenses. A Fuji 18mm f/2, a Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8, a Fuji XF 56mm f/1.2, a Fuji XF 18-135mm f3.5-5.6, and my absolute favorite, the XF 16-55mm f/2.8. I might include the X-Pro1 too as I hope to do some street photography.

I will occasionally post whatever is of relevance during the coming two weeks.

Kares Le Roy | Ashayer

Photo © Kares Le Roy-All Rights Reserved

The word عشایر (its English transliteration is Ashayer) is Persian for nomads, and is the title for Kares Le Roy's extensive photographic body of work on the nomads who inhabit the landscape of Persia and Central Asia.

Inspired by an initial trip to the Asian continent, Kares Le Roy returned to the East traveling on a 16-months journey driving a van, and immersed himself into a tribal world. He shared the daily life and seasonal migration of different ethnic groups who live on in Persia and Central Asia. Ashayer is the result of an expedition from France to Afghanistan via Iran, and a testimony of vibrant and remote cultures that might soon disappear. He traveled in the Wakhan Corridor, the narrow strip of territory in northeastern Afghanistan that extends to China and separates Tajikistan from Pakistan, which was arbitrarily drawn in 1895 to act as buffer between Russia and the British Empire.

Bakhtiaris, Qashqais, Turkmen, Kazakh, Kyrgyz are the evocative names of some of the nomadic tribes who were encountered by Kares on his long and arduous voyage since he left Paris in a converted Volkswagen van for Afghanistan in May 2014. He had no sponsors nor promoters, and a tiny budget. All he had were his cameras, some books and his spirit of adventure. You can follow some of this backstory on his blog.

Kares Le Roy spent the last six years traveling and photographing in Persia and Central Asia. He has already accomplished projects such as two books, one short film and a documentary. He has collaborated with Doctors Without Borders, l’Équipe Magazine and National Geographic. 

Ed Asmus | Ethiopia's Omo Valley

Photo © Ed Asmus - All Rights Reserved

The Lower Omo River in south west Ethiopia is home to eight different tribes whose population is about 200,000 and it is there that they've lived there for many centuries. The tribes such as the Daasanach, Kara (or Karo), and the Mursi live along the Omo river and depend on it for their livelihood. The annual flooding of the Omo River feeds the biodiversity of the region and guarantees the food security of the tribes especially as rainfall is low and erratic. 

In July 2006 the Ethiopian government has started to build a hydro-electric dam that will soon will block the south western part of the Omo River which runs for 760 kms from the highlands of Ethiopia to Lake Turkana in Kenya, and is designed to support vast commercial plantations that are forcing these tribes from their land.

Ed Asmus, a architectural photographer, recently photographed in Ethiopia's Omo Valley last November, and returned from what he described as as "life changing" trip with images of some of the tribes. Due to tribal tensions, he had to change his itinerary but experienced the $2 a night "hotel" and the $120 a night Murulle Omo Explorer's Lodge in Jinka. He also informs us that each photograph costs him $0.25, and if it included a baby, it would cost an extra $0.25. His trip blog is here.

Mr. Asmus' photographs remind me of those made by Hans Silvester, who over three years visited the Mursi and Surma Tribes of the Omo Valley at least nine times. Mr. Silvester was attracted by the Surma and Mursi tribes who use body paint to protect themselves from the harsh elements

Leonid Plotkin | The Eternal Return

Photo © Leonid Plotkin - All Rights Reserved

Here is The Eternal Return, an interesting feature on the Assamese neo-Vaishnavite culture, initiated around 15th century by the Assamese saint Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciple Madhavdeva. Vaishnavism is one of the major branches of Hinduism along with Shaivism, Smartism and Shaktism. It is focused on the veneration of Vishnu.

Many satras (monasteries) built by the saint still survive, and shelter Vaishnavite monks whose lives are dedicated to the complete devotion to Vishnu. Similar to many monastic traditions, young boys arrive at a satra between the ages of five and ten, and remain novices until they reach the age of majority. At that time, if they wish to continue living in the monastery, they receive full ordination as monks. Many of the larger monasteries house hundreds of celibate and non-celibate bhakats (monks), hold vast lands and are repositories of religious and cultural relics and artifacts.

Vaishnavism is rich in saints, temples and scriptures. The adherents of the sect are generally monastic and devoted to meditative practice and ecstatic chanting.

Leonid Plotkin traveled to Majuli Island on the Brahmaputra River in the Indian state of Assam, and photographed in one of these satras. 

He has been featured a few times on my blog, and although he photographed the Urs of Nawaz Gharib in Ajmer while I was there in 2013, we don't seem to have run into each other. He has been virtually everywhere in India as his blog attests.

Leonid is a freelance documentary photographer and writer. His work has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, The Observer, The Economist, Penthouse Magazine, Student Traveler, Budget Travel, Discovery Magazine, MSN.com and others.

The Psychedelic World of Sudan's Sufis

Photo © Ala Kheir- Courtesy The Guardian

‘During dhikr, we fly to the heavens’ - Ahmed Mohamed Alamin

I am glad to have had the opportunity to photographically document the religious tradition of Sufism in a few countries, and have accumulated a reasonable amount of image inventory of its rituals, ceremonies, festivals and of portraiture as well as audio recordings of its music.

However, I have never had the occasion to photograph Sudan's Sufis. It's a particular shame because in my previous career, I visited Khartoum and Omdurman a number of times on banking business but I wasn't in photography then. I can even recall driving past the site of one of their gatherings, but it never occurred to me to stop and take a look. As I said, I wasn't a photographer then and had no interest in such cultural events. Dumb.

So it's with great interest that I stumbled on The Guardian's photographic essay The Psychedelic World of Sudan's Sufis with images by the Sudanese photographer Ala Kheir.

It features photographs made at the Sheikh Hamed Al Nil mosque, which houses the tomb of a 19th century Sufi leader. The Qādirīyah Sufi order meets every Friday outside this mosque in Omdurman and its participants hold a "dhikr" or "zikr" in praise of the saint.

Dhikr is a ritual that requires the continuous recitation of God’s names to create a state of ecstatic abandon in which the adherent’s heart can communicate directly with God. 

Sheikh Hamed al-Nil was a 19th-century Sufi leader of the Qādirīyah order, and his tomb is the weekly venue for the dancing and chanting dervishes. Each Friday afternoon at around four in the afternoon, adherents of the order gather to dance and pray, attracting large crowds of observers and participants. 

The Qādirīyah is probably the oldest of the Sufi orders, founded by the Hanbali theologian Abdel Kader Al Jilani (1078–1166) in Baghdad. The order relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Islam, and is widespread in most Arab countries and others such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey, the Balkans and others.

Hà Nội And A Brace of X-T1s

I'm planning to return to Hà Nội as soon as Tết, or Vietnamese New Year, hiatus is over, to continue my work on my forthcoming photo book "Hầu Đồng: The Spirit Mediums of Viet Nam". I'm told the periods before and after the holidays are the best times for such ceremonies, because of devotees seeking to welcome the new year with appropriate blessings.

This time around, I will be taking two Fuji X-T1 bodies with the latest firmware 4.30 installed, and 5 lenses. A Fuji 18mm f/2, a Zeiss Touit 12mm f/2.8, a Fuji XF 56mm f/1.2, a Fujifilm XF 18-135mm f3.5-5.6, and my absolute favorite the XF 16-55mm f/2.8.

I'll be taking a Zoom IQ7 microphone and a Shoulderpod for my iPhone, and a Sunpak LED 30 for illumination (if need be).

From past experience, I expect to use the XF 16-55mm f/2.8 and the Zeiss Touit 12mm f2.8 lenses for most of the time during the ceremonies. For the street work, I'll have the 12mm and the Fuji 18mm f/2 workhorse. For portraiture, I'll have the 56mm f/1.2 with its fabulous bokeh. The lens least used has always been 18-135mm, but I'll throw it in just in case I need its range.

I might add the X-Pro1 to the mix for monochrome street shooting, or I'll use my Leica M9 in monochrome mode, and bite the bullet in terms of cramming all these in my shoulder bag.