Young man Fakih plays here the sufi flute—the ney—a tradition at the heart of Turkish Sufism. For Sufis, reaching a spiritual high can happen in different ways: by whirling in circles, through deep meditation, by embracing emotional pain, or simply by letting music carry them away.

Sufism first came to Turkey with wandering dervishes and traveling Sufi teachers, especially after the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks embraced Islam. By the time of the Ottoman Empire, Sufi lodges (tekkes) were everywhere, shaping society and culture for centuries. In 1925, Sufism was officially banned, but the tradition never really disappeared—it just went underground, and today it still influences Turkish life and music.