A couple of years ago, I was reintroduced to the genre of qawwali.
This interest was sparked by Kabir Project. Prior to that my playlist
was restricted to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Sabri Brothers. I would no
longer call many of those tracks as qawwali. They were bollywoodish
medleys or fusion based improvisations.
I find it difficult to define what exactly constitutes a qawwali, more so because of the way the old tradition has been reinterpreted by various performers. The gap between Mubarak Ali-Fateh Ali and Nusrat Ali Khan is large. Even when it comes to recital there are differences. Aziz Mian for example had a unique style different from softer, melodic, charming recitals of Haji Mehboob who was an exception in his own right. But underneath all these differences is the common thread of poetry inspired by Sufism. “Inspiration” based would be a maximalist approach to include the variety of Kalams performed these days.
This post is a collection of Naatiya Kalams. Each one of these speaks in manners of beauty or grace and is a celebration of being & the urge of belonging. The thing about art or music is that there isn’t single way of understanding and appreciating. Everyone has his own interpretations of what is being sung and what is being heard. Sometimes, the gap between the sung and the heard can be wide. Qawwals have a large repertoire of kalams and they mix verses from different sources so as to bring out the meaning of what is being recited. Often this leads totally different interpretation of kalam or to much needed elaboration of it. This is true of the following qawwalis as well. There is repetition of verses but the andaaz of it differs.
Maine Pucha Husn Se ~ Mehr Ali Sher Ali.
Nothing fancy here, just some colorful poetry with harmonious vocals.
Laagi Jo Toh Se Nazariya Ameer Rafiq
Sarangi and "Kya Tum Se Kahun" bit at the start are wonderful. Recital continues on this brilliance till the end.
Dil Jis Se Zinda Hai ~ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Naat by Zafar Ali Khan. This shift at 8:00 towards punjabi kalam and at 12:00 to Kalam Pir Meher Ali Shah add to the charm of recitation.
Ze Rehmat Kun Nazar ~ Munshi Raziddun and Sons
Nahi Hai Koi Asaara ~ Manzoor Niazi
Yaad-e-Mustafa ~ Manzoor Hussain Santoo
With an interesting Clarinet start which was the trademark of his party.
Ishq Ki Ibtida ~ Maulvi Ahmed Hassan
He really was a diamond in rough. More about him and some of his recordings here
Naseema Janibe ~ Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad
Punjabi verses added in between and the melodic style leave nothing more to be desired.
Jab Husn Tha ~ Najmuddin Saifuddin
Excuse the audio quality.
Ya Muhammad ~Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
I wanted to restrict this post to one recital per qawwal but am tempted to add this to the list.
I find it difficult to define what exactly constitutes a qawwali, more so because of the way the old tradition has been reinterpreted by various performers. The gap between Mubarak Ali-Fateh Ali and Nusrat Ali Khan is large. Even when it comes to recital there are differences. Aziz Mian for example had a unique style different from softer, melodic, charming recitals of Haji Mehboob who was an exception in his own right. But underneath all these differences is the common thread of poetry inspired by Sufism. “Inspiration” based would be a maximalist approach to include the variety of Kalams performed these days.
This post is a collection of Naatiya Kalams. Each one of these speaks in manners of beauty or grace and is a celebration of being & the urge of belonging. The thing about art or music is that there isn’t single way of understanding and appreciating. Everyone has his own interpretations of what is being sung and what is being heard. Sometimes, the gap between the sung and the heard can be wide. Qawwals have a large repertoire of kalams and they mix verses from different sources so as to bring out the meaning of what is being recited. Often this leads totally different interpretation of kalam or to much needed elaboration of it. This is true of the following qawwalis as well. There is repetition of verses but the andaaz of it differs.
Maine Pucha Husn Se ~ Mehr Ali Sher Ali.
Nothing fancy here, just some colorful poetry with harmonious vocals.
Laagi Jo Toh Se Nazariya Ameer Rafiq
Sarangi and "Kya Tum Se Kahun" bit at the start are wonderful. Recital continues on this brilliance till the end.
Dil Jis Se Zinda Hai ~ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Naat by Zafar Ali Khan. This shift at 8:00 towards punjabi kalam and at 12:00 to Kalam Pir Meher Ali Shah add to the charm of recitation.
Ze Rehmat Kun Nazar ~ Munshi Raziddun and Sons
Nahi Hai Koi Asaara ~ Manzoor Niazi
Yaad-e-Mustafa ~ Manzoor Hussain Santoo
With an interesting Clarinet start which was the trademark of his party.
Ishq Ki Ibtida ~ Maulvi Ahmed Hassan
He really was a diamond in rough. More about him and some of his recordings here
Naseema Janibe ~ Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad
Punjabi verses added in between and the melodic style leave nothing more to be desired.
Jab Husn Tha ~ Najmuddin Saifuddin
Excuse the audio quality.
Ya Muhammad ~Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
I wanted to restrict this post to one recital per qawwal but am tempted to add this to the list.
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