Soaring vocal improvisations, incantatory refrains, steady hand clapping and surges of tabla playing characterize the performance of Muslim Sufi devotional songs called Qawwali. It is derived from the Arabic word "qual" or saying. An ensemble of 9 to 12 members sing from the Sufi text of devotional poetry extolling spiritual ecstasy.

The texts deal with divine love (ishq) the sorrow of separation (hijr or firaq) and the union (visal). These powerful concepts expressed symbolically in the Sufi poetry transcend all barriers and account for Qawwali music's inclusiveness and universal appeal. The repertoire consists of verses in Urdu and Persian, with some very
powerful and moving poetry in Seraiki, Punjabi and Hindi. However, over the centuries as Urdu became the lingua franca of most of South Asia, it also became the main language of Sufi poetry.

The music gives the spiritual essence of this poetry an expressive form that Sufis use to attain trance and mystical experience.

Originating in the 10th century and drawing from Arabic, Persian and South Asian languages and musical influences, Qawwali blossomed in its present form in the 13th century. Amir Khusrau (1254-1325), the poet, composer, mystic and the court musician at Delhi, is revered as the originator of qawwali.

Farid Ayaz Qawwal & Brothers

NEW YORK TIMES MUSIC REVIEW
November 3, 2000, Friday

"Sufi Passion That Rises To Ecstasy"

"Poetry is at the core of the Sufi devotional songs called qawwali. The words praise saints, yearn for a beloved (who may be human or divine) and extol spiritual ecstasy. At the same time, the music propels listeners toward that ecstasy with steady handclapping, incantatory refrains, surges of drumming and soaring vocal improvisations. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the singer who introduced many Westerners to qawwali before his death in 1997, mesmerized audiences with long, spectacular stretches of nonverbal vocalizing. Farid Ayaz Qawwal and Brothers, a nine-member group that made its United States debut in a World Music Institute concert at Symphony Space on Saturday night, stayed closer to the poetry while their songs reached crest after crest.

The group's mentor is Munshi Raziuddin, now in his 90's, whose family has sung qawwali for eight centuries. His sons Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammed sat by his side, playing harmoniums and trading vocals and keyboard lines; the drumming came from Ali Akbar on tabla and Ghayoor Ahmed on dholak, which is played with both hands and sticks. Other members clapped hands and sang the refrains that spur each song. In traditional style, the songs began with drones and free-floating improvisations, with the melody slowly emerging amid filigreed harmonium lines. Over steady hand clapping, Mr. Ayaz intoned the couplets of poetry, then sang them with growing fervor. Sweetly restrained, smoothly curling phrases built up to percussive flurries of notes, each one hit with a quivering intensity; Mr. Ayaz's gentle tone grew rougher, more eager, while he played harmonium lines parallel to his vocals or stabbed a finger upward like a preacher. Mr. Mohammed picked up where Mr. Ayaz paused, creating his own ascending arcs. Though their father spent most of the concert singing along on responses, he also had a few solo passages, revealing a precise but weathered voice. The music gathered momentum again and again, with multiplying drumbeats and sharp attacks on the dholak. But the group refused to let the music lose itself in wordless euphoria. After each volley of vocal fireworks, Mr. Ayaz eased down the group and recited the next couplet, offering another lesson to be transformed by music." By JON PARELES Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Farid Ayaz Qawwal & Brothers sing the pure traditional form of qawwali. On their North American tour last year, the group developed a sort of cult following, especially among the young, cutting across cultural and linguistic barriers. Groups of both young and old would follow them from concert to concert. The group was formed by 82-year-old Grand Master Munshi Raziuddin, who has performed sacred music for over sixty years and passed on the art of qawwali to his eldest son Farid Ayaz and his younger sons.

The classical qawwali singing of the group has been passed on from generation to generation going back to Ustad Khansahib Tan Ras Khan, who was the teacher of the last Mughal Emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar.

Farid Ayaz Qawwal and Brothers have promoted the art of qawwali throughout Pakistan, India, Iran, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

- Ishrat Ansari
President, Virsa Pakistan Inc.
Director, Mystery Park Arts, Inc.