By Xari Jalil - The International News - Karachi, Pakistan
Saturday, May 5, 2007
For Kenan and his band, the Choir Hazrati Hamza, there was no dargah where he started from, with his sufi music. Instead, they got in touch with Sufism during the Bosnian War in the mid-90s, to seek inner peace and relief from the terror that had been spread in their country.
“We were forlorn during that time and we were teenagers. We started singing sufi music, and it was then that we got in touch with our inner self and understood the real meaning of Sufism,” says Kenan. The rest of the band nods is concurrence, and smile wistfully at their individual memories of that time.
The third day of the Mystic Music Sufi Festival went well, as more people showed up to listen to the delightful music being played by each and every one of the carefully selected artistes, both local and international.
Organised by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, this is the sixth consecutive sufi festival. Most have been held in Lahore and this is the first being held in Karachi, much to the appreciation of sufi music lovers here. The festival is to continue for a total of four days.
Fakir Abdul Wahid Jamali and his friends from Nawabshah have come from the mazar of Fakir Mohammad Fakir Kathian. Dressed in their bright orange robes adorned with the typical beads around their necks, the Jamali group sang kaafis during their performace written by Kamtil Fakir and Sachal Sarmast. But this is not their first performance. They say they have been to Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Maldives, New York and other European countries, and they immensely enjoyed performing there.
And as far as their opinion concerning Sufism is concerned, they say it is above all religions, because the message is of love, truth, and respect for life, whether the other is an animal or a human, and it does not matter whether another belongs to a religion different from one’s own.“The ‘head’ of a human is the ‘head’ of God,” he says metaphorically, “and Sufism is nothing but love, which should be held above everything else.”
Naseeruddin Saami and his sons, who excellently performed Nizamuddin Aulia’s work, along with Hazrat Amir Khusrau’s kalaam, claim to be part of the direct lineage of Khwaja Nizamaddun’s dargah. They say anyone else is either a student, or a student of a student or a fraud, because no one else has any mastery of khayal singing the way the Saami family does.
They belong to the Qawwal Bacha gharana and hold an individual style of classical music blended with the sufi qawwali style. Saami says that Sufism is the essence of Shariah, and that sufi music is the voice of pure love, and expression. The culture of vocalling is difficult and not everyone has managed to master it.
They also term commercial music nowadays as mere ‘noise’.
“Your voice is not to sell, or to buy,” says Saami. “It should be used to spread the message.”
Just as the Bosnian band agrees on their idea of Sufism as the elements of unity and peace combining together, Farouq Abbas from Morocco say that it is the emptying of one’s self of all material pleasures and to fill oneself instead with the beauty of spirit and soul.
His band is called Issaova or the Aissaoua Brotherhood.
Monday, May 07, 2007
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Monday, May 07, 2007
"Sufism Is Nothing but Love" and "Sufism Is the Essence of Shariah"
By Xari Jalil - The International News - Karachi, Pakistan
Saturday, May 5, 2007
For Kenan and his band, the Choir Hazrati Hamza, there was no dargah where he started from, with his sufi music. Instead, they got in touch with Sufism during the Bosnian War in the mid-90s, to seek inner peace and relief from the terror that had been spread in their country.
“We were forlorn during that time and we were teenagers. We started singing sufi music, and it was then that we got in touch with our inner self and understood the real meaning of Sufism,” says Kenan. The rest of the band nods is concurrence, and smile wistfully at their individual memories of that time.
The third day of the Mystic Music Sufi Festival went well, as more people showed up to listen to the delightful music being played by each and every one of the carefully selected artistes, both local and international.
Organised by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, this is the sixth consecutive sufi festival. Most have been held in Lahore and this is the first being held in Karachi, much to the appreciation of sufi music lovers here. The festival is to continue for a total of four days.
Fakir Abdul Wahid Jamali and his friends from Nawabshah have come from the mazar of Fakir Mohammad Fakir Kathian. Dressed in their bright orange robes adorned with the typical beads around their necks, the Jamali group sang kaafis during their performace written by Kamtil Fakir and Sachal Sarmast. But this is not their first performance. They say they have been to Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Maldives, New York and other European countries, and they immensely enjoyed performing there.
And as far as their opinion concerning Sufism is concerned, they say it is above all religions, because the message is of love, truth, and respect for life, whether the other is an animal or a human, and it does not matter whether another belongs to a religion different from one’s own.“The ‘head’ of a human is the ‘head’ of God,” he says metaphorically, “and Sufism is nothing but love, which should be held above everything else.”
Naseeruddin Saami and his sons, who excellently performed Nizamuddin Aulia’s work, along with Hazrat Amir Khusrau’s kalaam, claim to be part of the direct lineage of Khwaja Nizamaddun’s dargah. They say anyone else is either a student, or a student of a student or a fraud, because no one else has any mastery of khayal singing the way the Saami family does.
They belong to the Qawwal Bacha gharana and hold an individual style of classical music blended with the sufi qawwali style. Saami says that Sufism is the essence of Shariah, and that sufi music is the voice of pure love, and expression. The culture of vocalling is difficult and not everyone has managed to master it.
They also term commercial music nowadays as mere ‘noise’.
“Your voice is not to sell, or to buy,” says Saami. “It should be used to spread the message.”
Just as the Bosnian band agrees on their idea of Sufism as the elements of unity and peace combining together, Farouq Abbas from Morocco say that it is the emptying of one’s self of all material pleasures and to fill oneself instead with the beauty of spirit and soul.
His band is called Issaova or the Aissaoua Brotherhood.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
For Kenan and his band, the Choir Hazrati Hamza, there was no dargah where he started from, with his sufi music. Instead, they got in touch with Sufism during the Bosnian War in the mid-90s, to seek inner peace and relief from the terror that had been spread in their country.
“We were forlorn during that time and we were teenagers. We started singing sufi music, and it was then that we got in touch with our inner self and understood the real meaning of Sufism,” says Kenan. The rest of the band nods is concurrence, and smile wistfully at their individual memories of that time.
The third day of the Mystic Music Sufi Festival went well, as more people showed up to listen to the delightful music being played by each and every one of the carefully selected artistes, both local and international.
Organised by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, this is the sixth consecutive sufi festival. Most have been held in Lahore and this is the first being held in Karachi, much to the appreciation of sufi music lovers here. The festival is to continue for a total of four days.
Fakir Abdul Wahid Jamali and his friends from Nawabshah have come from the mazar of Fakir Mohammad Fakir Kathian. Dressed in their bright orange robes adorned with the typical beads around their necks, the Jamali group sang kaafis during their performace written by Kamtil Fakir and Sachal Sarmast. But this is not their first performance. They say they have been to Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Maldives, New York and other European countries, and they immensely enjoyed performing there.
And as far as their opinion concerning Sufism is concerned, they say it is above all religions, because the message is of love, truth, and respect for life, whether the other is an animal or a human, and it does not matter whether another belongs to a religion different from one’s own.“The ‘head’ of a human is the ‘head’ of God,” he says metaphorically, “and Sufism is nothing but love, which should be held above everything else.”
Naseeruddin Saami and his sons, who excellently performed Nizamuddin Aulia’s work, along with Hazrat Amir Khusrau’s kalaam, claim to be part of the direct lineage of Khwaja Nizamaddun’s dargah. They say anyone else is either a student, or a student of a student or a fraud, because no one else has any mastery of khayal singing the way the Saami family does.
They belong to the Qawwal Bacha gharana and hold an individual style of classical music blended with the sufi qawwali style. Saami says that Sufism is the essence of Shariah, and that sufi music is the voice of pure love, and expression. The culture of vocalling is difficult and not everyone has managed to master it.
They also term commercial music nowadays as mere ‘noise’.
“Your voice is not to sell, or to buy,” says Saami. “It should be used to spread the message.”
Just as the Bosnian band agrees on their idea of Sufism as the elements of unity and peace combining together, Farouq Abbas from Morocco say that it is the emptying of one’s self of all material pleasures and to fill oneself instead with the beauty of spirit and soul.
His band is called Issaova or the Aissaoua Brotherhood.
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