Daily Times

KARACHI: Renowned writer on arts, culture and history and critic of the art, Ally Adnan said that Qawwali was more than three thousand years old, but this unique type of Hindustani music was still relevant.

He was speaking at the his session: ‘The history, Art and Practice of Qawwali’ held on Sunday at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, followed by the performance of Ghayoor Moiz Mustafa Qawwal and Brothers, belonging to Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana of Delhi.

He said that Qawwali, which was introduced 1,800 years before Islam, was the oldest traditional music of united Hindustan. “It was found in sacred the Vedas. It was the time when Hindu temples were not just the place of worships. However, people used to go there to sit, resolve mutual conflicts and used to tell each other tales, songs and were providing treatments to ailing people and they used to sing religious mantras in a rhythm and everyone was feeling that they have found their creator, it was the start of Qawwali,” Adnan added.

Explaining the history of the Qawwali, he said that later when Muslims came to the region, they adopted it as a part of their worship and the Islamic Qawwali was introduced by Sufi musician, poet and scholar from the Indian subcontinent, Amir Khusrow.

Adnan also explained the importance of Sur and Taal in Hindustani classical music and said that Sur and Taal are the backbone of Hindustani music.

Answering questions asked by the arts lover and participants of the event, he said that in Sufi Islam, people loved God.

He said that the basic Sur were the same in the entire world as the inspiration for Sur came from nature itself.

“People search the best sounds in nature and included those sounds in the Surs and thus the inspiration for Sur came from nature that appeals to the heart,” he added.

Later, Ghayoor Moiz Mustafa Qawwal and Brothers, belonging to the Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana of Delhi, performed and mesmerized the audiences. “AAo na Maary Des” was highly praised by the audience.

Published in Daily Times, January 15^th 2018.