A well-deserved presidential award is a boon to the arts but it is unfortunately very rare, especially in our country, that the genius of an artist is acknowledged and celebrated befittingly during his or her life. But even bureaucratic apathy, at times is unable to ignore when an artist takes his or her centuries old legacy to new heights. The recent conferment of the Presidential Pride of Performance Award on Ustad Abu Muhammad Qawwal, one of the two brilliant artistes who together lead the Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad Qawwal party is one such well-timed acknowledgement. A well-deserved presidential award is a boon to the arts Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad are currently one of the most competent, knowledgeable and prolific qawwals in the world. Their ancestry can be traced back to Miyan Samat Bin Ibrahim, who was a disciple of Hazrat Amir Khusrau, who established the tradition of Khusravi Qawwali. Reflecting on the history of Qawwali, Abu Muhammad shares a very fascinating anecdote, “Although qawwali existed from before in some shape and form, it was formalised by Hazrat Amir Khusrau. A Hindu pundit from South India named Gopal came to the court of Sultan of Delhi, Alaudin Khilji with a large retinue of students and posed some theological questions to the Sultan in 28,000 verses of Sanskrit language. At that times, only Brahmans spoke Sanskrit and the Sultan and his courtiers were obviously left bewildered. The Sultan requested the paramount Sufi saint of his time, Hazrat Nizamudin Auliya, for guidance, who in turn deputed his mureed Hazrat Amir Khusrau to formulate a befitting response. Amir Khusrau, after listening to the songs of Pandit Gopal, went on to prepare Miyan Samat to respond to all the boastful arguments raised in just 28 verses set to music. Amir Khusrau’s remarkable response impressed all in the court especially Pandit Gopal who fell to his feet and admitted defeat.” Reflecting on the history of qawwali, Abu Muhammad shares a very fascinating anecdote, ‘Although qawwali existed from before in some shape and form, it was formalised by Hazrat Amir Khusrau’ Amir Khusrau defined the requirements and rules for the performance of Qawwali and in order to ensure proper education, development, and propagation of the form, he trained a group of twelve young musicians. Miyan Samat Bin Ibrahim, the ancestor of Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad, was the leader of the group that came to be known as Qawwal Bachchay. The traditions have carried on for more than 700 years since, and the illustrious father of Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad Qawwal, Munshi Raziuddin Qawwal passed on the baton to the two. “Our father wanted us to have a portfolio of immense breadth in terms of raag, taal, genres, poetry, and topics. He wanted us to have a wide and broad repertoire so that people of all sorts would find our qawwali interesting and we could perform whatever they liked. In poetry, we have sung from Jami to Rumi to Iqbal and therefore appeal to a wide variety of listeners,” shares Abu Muhammad. Qawwali can be defined as the rhythmic invocation of words of love to achieve a state of ecstasy. This inimitable form of musical rendition has been practiced for more than three thousand two hundred years. From the earliest times, when Vedic mantars laid the foundation of qawwali to the tradition of zikr or the devotional practice of reciting divine names and attributes of the creator, to the much later style of qawwali as was used by the Sufi saints in South Asia, the influence of qawwali has been used to achieve a state of transcendence by both the performers and the listeners. According to Ally Adnan, “Another primeval form of qawwali, the Samaa, originated in Mayhana in the tenth century and quickly became popular in South Asia. Samaa involves singing, playing musical instruments, dancing, praying, recitation of poetry, and several other rituals, and, like other forms of qawwali, it is used to achieve a higher spiritual state. The practice of qawwali, in its various forms, gained popularity in South Asia as musicians, ascetics, clerics, mystics, philosophers, scholars, and Sufi saints continued to move to the region from Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and other countries. Muslim Sufis used qawwali to attract lower caste Hindus to Islam.” Researchers believe that since the lower caste Hindus were prohibited from reading and studying and practising Hindu scriptures, books, music, dance and the arts – qawwali afforded lower caste Hindus access to a spiritual and creative egress and became very popular with the Shudras and the Dalit, who converted to Islam in large numbers. It is thus not an overstatement that the qawwali of Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad Qawwal represents the genre in its true original form; their musical tradition integrating spiritual, philosophical, religious, musical, and poetic elements to create an atmosphere of spiritual connection between participants in a mehfil-e-samaa – a gathering of listeners and performers of qawwali – and the ones they truly love. Explaining the unique sound of Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad Qawwal, Ally Adnan, an authority on the institution of qawwali, said, “In my opinion, Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad are the top qawwals in the world today. Highly knowledgeable, exceptionally gifted, and immensely talented, the qawwali of Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad represents the genre of Khusravi qawwali in its most pristine, pure, and authentic form. Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad Qawwal stand out amongst their contemporary qawwals due to the authenticity of their song, their knowledge of raag and taal, their extensive repertoire, and their ability to engage, entertain and captivate listeners across cultural, religious, political, geographical and linguistic barriers.” The preparation for taking forward the legacy that started for Fareed Ayaz-Abu Muhammad at a young age under the strict supervision of their well-decorated father who himself was a recipient of the President’s Pride of Performance Award. Fareed Ayaz received the same distinction and now Abu Muhammad is the third musical prodigy of the family to have been bestowed the distinguished award this year. Speaking about his achievement, the ever humble Ustad Abu Muhammad, who has been performing qawwali for more than 50 years, representing Pakistan internationally, said, “We have performed in the United Kingdom, USA, Europe, Austria, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Croatia, Turkey, Morocco, Greece, Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and many other parts of the world. We were able to represent our culture and tradition to a range of audience. We have also used modern equipment so that our qawwali becomes relevant for the young ears that are used to the new kind of sounds. It is heartening when youngsters request us for kalam such as Khabaram, raseeda or Kangna, or Aaj rung hay, all woven in traditional arrangements. I am grateful to those who recommended my name for this laurel and who always support us. I am truly humbled that I was considered worthy of joining the ranks of my father and my elder brother and could add to the legacy of my family.” The writer is a development communication specialist and a documentary filmmaker from Islamabad. He Tweets @hhaarroonn and can be reached at hhaarroonn@hotmail.com