With Healing Intent

By Darrell Jónsson, *Pakistan's timeless mystic song* - The Prague Post - Prague, Czech Republic
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Weeping and dancing are de rigueur at this unusual concert

From the Beatles to Bollywood, the music of the Indian subcontinent continues to filter into the West.

In the 1980s and '90s, through the efforts the late Nusrat Ali Khan, a Sufi form of devotional expression known as qawali music began finding a global following.

While Khan's collaborations with trip-hop duo Massive Attack, Pearl Jam guitarist and singer Eddie Vedder and world-beat pioneer Peter Gabriel displayed his experimental side, it was Khan's swan song "Mercy" on the American composer Jonathan Elias' choral work The Prayer Cycle that reflected his debt to qawali's sacred origins.

Khan's untimely death in 1997 at the age of 48 meant the loss of the 20th century's most visible representative of Pakistani song. But the ancient tradition he made known to the world continues as a way of life in his home country.

This week in Prague, from a family known since the 13th century for their mastery of qawali's mystical and musical qualities, local audiences will have a rare opportunity to hear and experience Sufi song in its purest, most enchanting form.

For the singer/leader of the ensemble Qawal Najmuddin Saifuddin and Brothers, there is nothing but harmony in the fact that they are practicing what is essentially an Islamic art at Prague's Christian Sts. Simon and Jude Church. Given the natural need for devotional expression found in every society, the Pakistani form of song is a good fit, according to Saifuddin.

"The qawali is linked with the Sufi tradition, a mystical school of Islamic thought which strives to attain truth and divine love by direct personal experience," he tells The Prague Post over the phone from his home in Pakistan. At the same time, Saifuddin acknowledges the sensual elements in qawali's appeal, which he describes as "its loudness, rhythm, variety of instruments and the dynamic combined efforts of the group."

Even for those listeners who are not initially attracted by the ecstatic qualities of qawali, hearing the music live can be a moving experience. "Normally, during our performances, we present works based on or related to the mystical foundation of qawali, and the audience becomes so entranced that they start weeping or dancing," Saifuddin says.

Which leads one to wonder how the Czech Order of the Brothers of Mercy, a group known for their contributions to the advancement of medicine, music and science, would feel about such proceedings taking place in the shrine they built. But Saifuddin sees a connection in historic figures from the Islamic world such as Omar Khayyám, famous for his poetry, music theory and contributions to the origins of algebra; Al-Ghazali, who, like the Brothers of Mercy, pioneered the science of anatomy and psychology; and the lute player turned alchemist Al-Razi, who forwarded the use of sulfuric acid and ethanol in medicine while pioneering treatment for measles and smallpox.

In such polymath company, qawali developed over centuries, providing a conduit for Sufi poetry while refining itself in the context of Indian and Arabic classical and folk traditions. The result is a form of music that resonates equally well on the streets and in the finest concert halls, providing inspiration and solace to every strata of society.

It's this role, with its spiritual and healing intent, that may be at risk these days.

"The media has impacted qawali," Saifuddin explains. "In general, people are more attracted to qawali; on the other hand, with so many qawals becoming commercial artists as our music branches out, the spiritualism and the purity that are the essence of qawali music are vanishing from it."

In talking with Saifuddin about his family of musicians, it's clear that the sublime music they make represents far more than a stack of ticket receipts and royalty checks. The rewards are in sharing a timeless journey.

"By the Grace of God, we will never give up," Saifuddin vows. "Our seven centuries-old tradition strictly follows the footsteps of our ancestors. Perhaps we are not so famous, but we hold this mystical tradition within us."

Qawal Najmuddin Saifuddin and Brothers
When: Saturday, Oct. 3, at 8
Where: Sts. Simon and Jude Church
Tickets: 370 Kč, available through Ticketpro and at the venue

Picture: The group plays qawali, a devotional form of Islamic music that they will perform here in a Christian church.