Community Calendar

Falsa is a NYC-based Sufi music ensemble weaving 14th-century devotional traditions with contemporary improvisation. Rooted in the Qawwali lineage and global South Asian diasporic experience, Falsa creates soundscapes that explore longing, surrender, joy, and deep presence.

Led collectively by musicians blending Sufi Qawwali vocals, Carnatic violin, Hindustani tabla, Bass VI, Harmonium, and Drums, Falsa offers a transformative experience—bridging sacred traditions and transcultural jazz. The ensemble’s performances blend minimalist reflection with rhythmic intensity, creating immersive spaces where audiences feel more than they think.

Falsa invites listeners to engage with sacred sound as a form of reflection, healing, and communal resonance.

Do you long for a meditation experience that doesn’t leave you drowning in your own mental noise? Ever wondered how you could tap into Sufi mysticism even as a Westerner?

Violinist and meditation guide Carson Marshall has teamed up with Sufi vocalist Umer Piracha to create a soundbath-workshop that is equally grounded in their respective musical traditions and spiritual lineages, AND invites seekers of all backgrounds to draw from the richness of Buddhist meditation and Sufi Qawwali. (Think Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan meets Paganini.) Together, they lead their unique approach that is part soundbath and part meditation teaching. This is particularly helpful for those who find silent meditation frustrating!

Whether you are a serious meditator, casually curious, or simply an appreciator of incredible music, this is an experience that will move you - and it’s impossible not to learn something. Umer and Carson are gentle, attentive listeners and teachers. We didn’t get enough of them in the spring so we’ve brought them back this fall!

Come ready to be elevated - and bring whatever cushions, mats, or props you wish! Part of Florence Congregational’s Practical Spirituality series, this workshop is intended to be of use to people on any spiritual path.