Related Post
MUMBAI: The Folklore Society of Pakistan (FSP) has selected well-known ‘qawal party’ Ustad Akhtar Sharif-Sabir (Aroop Waley) from Gujranwala, Javed Bashir Ahmed, the principal singer of Mekal Hasan band and Ustad Shafi Muhammad Faqir, the renowned singer from Cholistan and his group to perform at ‘Bhakti Utsav’, the annual festival of mystic music being held at Nehru Park from 11 to 13 April 2008.
A group of singers and musicians from Pakistan were invited by ‘Seher’ an Indian NGO. At least one group from the Pakistani delegation will perform every night in the four-day mystic music festival in which a galaxy artists specialised in singing of mystic poetry, bhajan, keertan and gurubani from different regions of India are also coming to participate. Ustad Akhtar Sharif-Sabir Hussain and party from Gujranwala are renowned for their prominent style of ‘sufiana gaiki’ known as ‘do-aaba style of qawwali’ singing. Ustad Shafi Muhammad Faqir, the leader of ‘Manganhaar ensemble’ are the representatives of well known ‘Manganiyar community’ of Tharparkar desert in Sindh. Their counterparts are also living in Jaisalmer, Barmer and other cities of Rajasthan in India. Ustad Shafi sings in many languages and dialects such as Sindhi, Marwari, Siraiki, Punjabi, Urdu and Poorbi and has an individualistic style of singing mystic poetry of Shah Abdul Lateef Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast, Baba Bullhe Shah, Bhagat Kabir, Tulsi Das and Mira Bai.
