The Sabri brothers and Amjad (Brothers son) used a combination of the tabla and bass side of the dholak. This part of the drum also sits in the musician’s lap, as opposed to sitting on a ring. In this setup, the bass side is a dhama (not bayan), which is cylindrical and longer than a traditional bayan. In their moving spiritual performance, the idea of love and devotion is sung with the accompaniment of a unique percussion setup. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Wadali Brothers all use a modified version of the classical set up. All of these ensembles had only one harmonium player Different to this are the Wadali Bandhu as well as Sufi musicians like Abida Parveen, and Nooran Sisters. Unlike Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, one difference was that the lead singer played the harmonium in the case of Sabri ensemble, which was not the case in Rahat or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’ s qawwali music. Sabri Brothers were similar in this regard. However, one of the harmonium players was the primary. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his ensemble had two secondary vocalists that played harmonium. It is the main melodic sound for qawwali performances. The harmonium is a staple in qawwali troupes. New qawwali instruments have been adopted as of early 21st century to contemporize the performance. This spiritual form of Islamic music has seen new saaz added to recent international concerts, as of late 20th century. One of these traditional saaz has been replaced by the harmonium. All 3 of these older saaz, the sarangi, tabla and tanpura have been staples of religious sufi qawwali. Traditionally, the saaz of qawwali music were tabla (which is invented by Nizamuddin Auliya, who also invented qawwali), tanpura (also known as indian drone instrument) and sarangi. While the lead singer plays an important role in a mehfil -e- sama, it is the instruments (saaz), chorus, and clapping that give the qawwali singing form its signature character. Instruments like congos, khartal, and morsing are sometimes added by regional qawwali ensembles.Ī type of Sufi music, Qawwali is performed to drive people into a state of religious devotion and spiritual closeness in search of God. Clapping, an important percussive component in qawwali music, serves as a rhythmic drone and is sustained throughout a song. His work with artists as diverse as Michael Brook, Jeff Buckley, and Pearl Jam brought recognition to the art of qawwali throughout the world.Traditional qawwali instruments are harmonium, sarangi, tabla, and dholak.
The most popular exponent of the qawwali tradition, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, helped to create an audience for the Sabri Brothers and other qawwals. In a society where the sexes are segregated and marriages are arranged with no regard to love, the ghazal has an audience of millions who identify with its meaning. The language of love and unrequited love is the ghazal, a popular poetic form. Qawwali is the music of the Sufis, and the message is love. This creates the illusion that they are singing without taking a breath. The vocals reach their greatest intensity when some of the singers take turns singing while the others are breathing.
Qawwali music has been developed from the inversion of Indian ragas: vocals and harmoniums are layered on top of rhythm. The qawwal voices the spiritual message of Sufism, a mystical extension of Islam. Qawwali, from the Arabic word qual, meaning utterance, are the songs intended to stimulate religious ecstasy and trance. Qawwali is linked with the history of the Chishti Order, which was founded in Chisht, in Khurasan, and brought to the Indian subcontinent in the 12th century. The qawwal is a singer or singing musician (in Arabic, “one who speaks well”) of the Chishti tradition of India and Pakistan. Although Ghulam Farid Sabri passed away in 1994, the ensemble, under the leadership of Maqbool Ahmed Sabri, continues to perform throughout the world. Popular film and recording artists in their native country, the Sabri Brothers & Ensemble have toured Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the United States.
When Qawwali was originally issued, John Rockwell of the New York Times called it “the aural equivalent of dancing dervishes," citing its "rhapsodic declaimed verses and full-bodied unison chorus,” and further describing it as "music of feeling." Qawwali, produced by David Lewiston, was recorded in the United States in April 1978, while the original nine-man group was on its second acclaimed tour of the United States.