Kid Qawwali
I went to see a Sufi shrine in a little town outside of Lucknow called Kakori today. The people there were wonderfully nice and inviting. We all had a good time listening to them talk about their religious tradition and warmly answered our questions about philosophy and culture.
After our discussion time we drove to a house nearby to eat some of Kakori’s famous kabobs and mangos. This town is famous for its Sufi shrine, its kabobs and its mangos. It was beautiful to boot and the people we met were amazing. I really liked it there.
We then went back, well fed, to the shrine to see more of the buildings and then to hear a Qawwali group. Qawwali is a musical form closely associated with Sufi thought. There is percussion, melodic accompaniment, clapping and unbelievable singing. The style of singing is plaintive, with several men fading in and out as if urging each other to greater intensity. Overall, I was reminded of the first two albums by “the Band” and the way the different members would cut their way into the songs creating a conversational, improvisational mood. While my conscious mind was occupied with determining which Qawwali singer reminded me of which member of “the Band” another, deeper part of myself was lost to both time and space.
(All the best Qawwali videos I found blocked embeding, so here’s a link.)
