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Journalism of Courage
The art of qawwali unfolds in a day-long event today.
The hypnotic vocal cadenza and orchestral webs of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khans qawwali has always been an act of worship. Traditionally sung at the shrines of saints,Khan would sing compositions such as Allah Hoo and Aafreen,leading his audience into a trance. The others such as Maqbool Sabri and Warsi Brothers also made the genre popular. But whenever I would dance to qawwali,I was questioned as a classical dancer. Qawwali was seen as a genre that was non-serious. There wasnt any proper documentation of qawwali,although it has links with dhrupad,khayal and uses some of the most intelligent poetry, says sufi kathak exponent Manjari Chaturvedi,who pored over whatever was available,including a book by London-based Regula Qureshi,to organise Understanding Qawwali.
This is information that you will not find on the internet. There is no denying the power of qawwali the inherent style of which took so many to the path of spirituality. But there is a parallel version of it,this noir style used around,which is a little disturbing and dilutes the whole form. The effort is to talk about qawwali and create awareness so that the beauty of the genre is not lost because of ignorance, says Chaturvedi.
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