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Thursday, December 21, 2006
Female voice rises within men's Quranic chorus
By JOHN M. GLIONNA Los Angeles Times
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Maria Ulfah's father started it all.
Even in the 1960s, he wanted his daughter to have equal status with
men. So the devout Muslim encouraged her to study public speaking,
take voice lessons and to compete in an arena dominated by men:
reciting the Quran in public.
In the Muslim world, Quran recitation enjoys an avid following
associated in the West with pop music, opera or major sporting events.
Performances, which can draw thousands of people, are broadcast from
mosque sound systems and on national radio and TV stations.
Haji Mudhoffar, Maria's father, started small: He staged his own Quran
reciting competitions in their hometown in East Java so his daughter
could taste competition and stretch the virtuosity of her voice as she
melodically phrased the holy words.
His gamble paid off. Today, Ulfah is one of the most influential Quran
reciters in Southeast Asia. She's a teacher, scholar, lecturer and
cultural icon whose rare success in a man's world has inspired women
throughout Indonesia and elsewhere in the Islamic world.
"My father was a very modern man," said the 51-year-old Ulfah. "From
the very beginning, he taught me that I was an equal to anyone, man or
woman. His words have stayed with me."
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, most schools
have Quran recitation clubs. And women here, unlike in other Islamic
nations, where they often are excluded from the public sphere, are
afforded higher status by a comparatively more moderate culture. Girls
are encouraged from an early age to compete alongside boys.
It is an atmosphere in which Ulfah thrived. In 1980, she won the
women's title in an international Quran recitation contest in
Malaysia, earning her national acclaim back home in Indonesia and
launching her into the artistic and intellectual spotlight.
Suddenly, her voice was broadcast regularly on radio and television.
She won recording contracts and was invited to perform her melodic
recitations throughout the Islamic world and in the West. In
Indonesia, her performances filled football stadiums.
In her a cappella recitations, Ulfah's wide-ranging voice brings a
distinct mood to each Quranic text, as she uses flourishes, tempo and
pitch through the use of various melodies. The result is a unique
religious musical performance -- more singing than chanting, as
spiritual as it is artistic.
"What is really important about Maria Ulfah's work is the way that it
has become internationalized," said Anne Rasmussen, a music scholar at
the College of William and Mary and author of the forthcoming book
"Women, the Recited Quran, and Islamic Musical Arts in Contemporary
Indonesia."
"In her visits to Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East, she shows in a
completely natural way what women are to Islam, to professional work,
to artistry. There are thousands of girls in Indonesia and Southeast
Asia who want to be just like her."
Islamic scholars say Ulfah's talents are subtly shifting attitudes about women.
"Many religions foster male leaders -- Catholicism, for example, still
has no women priests," said Nadirsyah Hosen, an Islamic legal scholar.
"But that may change. In Islam, we have Maria Ulfah, who is furthering
the idea that women are equal."
Born in 1955, the ninth of 12 children -- 10 boys and two girls --
Ulfah was named after a female government minister her father admired.
"He idolized her. He was amazed a woman could be so clever," Ulfah
recalled. "He told me he wanted me to live up to her name, to become a
minister as well."
She began her studies in Arabic Quran recitation while in the first
grade. At first reluctant, she ran to a friend's house rather than
practice. But her father recognized her talent and encouraged her to
continue memorizing the Quran.
After her international first-place finish, Ulfah was invited to
perform in Mecca, Saudi Arabia -- in a culture where women lack the
social status they enjoy in Indonesia.
"I met an imam there who understood that men and women are equal," she
said. "He encouraged me to perform in front of an audience of men. I
was so nervous, because I know that many Arab men do not want to hear
a woman's voice. But he pushed me to go ahead."
She continues to perform internationally, appearing this month in
Kyoto, Japan. And she's still idolized by her fans.
In lectures and classes, Ulfah encourages women to work hard to become
better Muslims and never take no for an answer. Equality, she assures
them, will come.
But Ulfah still faces hurdles. Although she has judged Quran
recitations in Indonesia and elsewhere, organizers still do not allow
women to judge international contests. So she is working behind the
scenes to once again expand narrow male views of women.
"It is," she said, "my obsession."
Her father died in 1974, before her greatest triumph as a Quran reciter.
But Ulfah has carried on his spirit, and she remains outspoken about
male attitudes toward women. She insists that it's not Islam that
differentiates between the sexes, but individual cultures.
"In many Middle Eastern countries, a woman's voice cannot even be
heard in public," she said.
"Men consider a woman's voice to be soft and beautiful. They think it
will arouse them sexually. That is why so many women are forced to
cover their faces and lower their voices in public.
"But that is not the way I was raised in Indonesia."
posted by KETUA PSW IIQ at 9:59 AM |
 
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