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Calendar of Events/News The Saturday March 18 Qawwali event was made possible with the support of members of Virsa Pakistan, ARY Digital TV Broadcasting System and PIA. Pakistan International Airlines On this auspicious spiritual Qawwali event, PIA is taking the opportunity to announce its 4 weekly non stop New York-Pakistan flights starting March 29, 06. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday

A Rare Video
Here's a video clip featuring
the legendary Grand Master, the late Munshi Raziuddin (center).
Father and leader of Farid Ayaz Qawwal Ensemble.

 This is the only video of a live performance by

Munshi Raziuddin. It was  shot  in New York, 2000.
              Sample Videos 

Producer Ishrat Ansari for Virsa Pakistan 
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STUDIO 360
Qawwali 
It's a bridge between the human and the divine.
 Ishrat Ansari, of the Pakistani cultural foundation Virsa, and Robert Browning of the World Music Institute talk about the transporting sound of the devotional folk music of the Sufi Muslims.
Produced by Jocelyn Gonzales.
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WNYC - New Sounds:
... 2297 Show #2297 Thursday, June 17, 2004 On this edition of New Sounds, hear the Qawwali music of Farid Ayaz Qawwal. One of the leading performers of the ...

WNYC Studio 360  
... American CK 69800. Farid Ayaz Qawwal & Brothers. Allah Ho. Farid Ayaz Qawwal & Brothers in New York City. ...
WNYC - Soundcheck:  
... Today on Soundcheck, we welcome members of a new generation of performers of the Sufi devotional music: Farid Ayaz Qawwal & Brothers. A style of song that has ...

On Qawwali and Sufism

 The Qawwali is a form of  music where the verses - taken from great sufi poets of  Persia and South Asia - are sung by its practitioners (Qawwal), in a manner intended to concentrate the mind of the listeners and to bring them into a state of ecstasy. It is one of  most intense expressions of mystic thought. As a musical form it belongs exclusively to South Asia (Pakistan, India, & Bangla-Desh). While American audiences may not understand the words, the music transcends all linguistic, social and cultural barriers. This is the music of ecstasy and one does not need to know the words to be moved.

Mysticism (tasavvuf) is the desire to come close to God, to love and be loved by Him, to live abstemiously and meditatively, to be guided by God through the various stages of  life.
The Muslim mystics known as Sufis,represent these popular and in many ways one of the most appealing aspects of Islam aspects of Islam.

About Farid Ayaz Qawwal Ensemble

The Farid Ayaz Qawwal Ensemble are the foremost Qawwali performers in Pakistan today.  Lead singers Farid Ayaz and Abu Muhammad were trained for decades by their renowned father, Munshi Raziuddin, who performed well into his eighties, dazzling audiences with the power and magnetism of his voice.  Munshi Raziuddin passed away in 2004.  Farid�s melodious voice and vigorous style had already established him as one of the best qawwals of the younger generation.  In 2005 he received Pakistan�s most prestigious honor in the performing arts, the President�s Award for Pride of Performance.

Members of the Ensemble:
  The 8 member ensemble is composed of  sons, nephews, or grandsons of Munshi Raziuddin. 
Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad � Lead Singers
Ghulam Akram�Vocals; Ali Akbar �Tabla/Percussions; Gayoor Ahmed� Tabla/Dholak/Percussions; Moizuddin Hayder,
Mubark Hassan Haris and Shahzad Hussain � Vocals
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                                                                                 Fuzon                                                                   

April/May 2006

Lead Singer Shafqat Amanat Ali , Guitarist Shallum Xavier
  Keyboard Player Imran

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  Tina Sani 
       April/May 2006
                 Virsa has presented Tina Sani twice in New York in the past two years.

 Her fans have complained that the venue for the events was too small
 for all the lovers of Ghazals who wanted to attend the Mehfils.
This year, we are pleased to announce that the venues being selected
 would be able to accommodate all her fans.
Details to follow.
Ghazal - An Introduction

Ghazals came to South Asia in the 12 centaury with the extension of Muslim influence. By the 18th century, when its Persian roots gave way to Urdu as the language of poetry and culture in India, the rendition off ghazal flourished. Ghalib being the greatest exponent of this art form.

Ghazals deal with a whole range of human experience: unrequited love, pangs of longing and frustration, symbolic celebration of madness (deevana pun) and intoxication. However it is mostly concerned with Ishq (love). In its  mystical devotional form the object of this love is the Eternal Beloved ; an expression of a sense of bewilderment at the state of human condition  colored by religious orthodoxy and intolerance and a yearning  to be with the Supreme Being in the lost paradise

A ghazal  opens with a rhyming couplet called matla. The rhyme of the opening couplet is repeated at the end of second line in each succeeding verse, so that the rhyming pattern may be represented as aa,ba,ca,da etc., and so on. In addition to the restriction of rhyme, the ghazal also observes the convention of radeef. Radeef demands that a portion of the first line , comprising not more than two or three words, immediately preceding the rhyme-word at the end, should rhyme with its counterpart in the second line of the opening couplet, and afterwards alternately throughout the poem. The opening couplet of the ghazal is always a representative couplet: it sets the mood and tone of the poem and prepares us for its proper appreciation. The last couplet of the ghazal called makta often includes the pen-name of the poet, and is more personal than general in its tone and intent. Here the poet may express his own state of mind, or describe his religious faith, or pray for his beloved, or indulge in poetic self-praise.

Pop ular knowledge of Urdu declines, singers of ghazals increasingly avoid verse with unfamiliar Persia-Arabic diction, including many of the most famous ghazals of great classical poets like Ghalib. Critics also point out that some modern singers--including some of the top stars--pronounce Urdu phonemes incorrectly, substituting Hindi phonemes for Urdu counterparts and misplacing unwritten elisions (ezafet).

In Urdu poetry, Ghazal also implies the musical form in which it is delivered.

 

A light-classical music style, which stresses interpretive melodic improvisation--bol banao--on the nonrhyming, first line of each couplet. The featured vocalist selects a Classical raags (modes) and  is accompanied by tabla and  sarangi by Instruments  were used, and a sophisticated aesthetic developed which evaluated ghazal songs on the basis of the poetry itself, the precomposed tune used for refrains (especially of the rhyming lines), and, above all, the singer's skillful, improvised bol banao. And the correct placing of unwritten elisions (ezafet).

Special Event

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