PERFORMANCE: The Sabri brothers enjoy a big fan following across South Asia and beyond.      Photos by Umer Nangiana

By Umer Nangiana

As it begins, a melody interwoven with gentle rhythmic beats of tabla (drum) and immersed in the sound of harmonium pierces the air. As the musicians’ energy level rises, the audience is completely drawn in and then comes the alap. This long tonal song by lead singer is repeated by the side singer before the chorus joins in, clapping their hands in unison.
Thus begins Qawwali, and with it a hypnotic experience of watching Sabri Brothers weaving a magical evening with their characteristic style of singing. The world renowned duo of Qawwals from India, Farid Sabri and Amin Sabri were in Doha for a night of Qawwali and left everyone spellbound.
Invited to Doha for the first time by M S Bukhari, the Managing Director of Satco International, with the support of Ministry of Interior to perform at the celebrations of Qatar’s National Day, the Sabri Brothers provided a real treat for the lovers of South Asian traditional music, in which Qawwali has a special place.
Hundreds descended on the Asian Town Amphitheatre to witness the magic happen. The hosts, Mohamed Habibun Nabi and Rubina Singh gave the prelude before the Qawwals began their more than three-hour-long performance with a song Shaan-e-Qatar, especially written for the event by a local poet Amjad Ali Sarwar, praising Qatar and HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Qawwali is a vibrant Muslim musical tradition that traces its origin some 800 years back in the Indian subcontinent. Internationally popularised by legendary singers like Sabri Brothers besides Aziz Mian and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from Pakistan, Qawwali is widespread throughout Pakistan and
northern India in its multiple forms.
It is believed to have been started by Amir Khusrow, a legendary musician from the Indian sub-continent, in 13th century and most of its original form has managed to survive and is practised even today.
“In those times, Qawwalis were mostly sung in Arabic and Persian. These days they are sung mostly in Urdu. Besides, the tradition of Qawwali was rooted in Khankahs and Hujras (private sittings). Over time, [the Qawwali] has reached to a far bigger audience,” Farid Sabri, the elder of the brothers tells Community in a chat after the concert here.
In recent times, he says, Qawwali has been featured even in films. They have contributed Qawwalis for many Bollywood flicks such as Hina, Perdes, Sirf Tum and others.  
“While this genre of music has largely been able to sustain its charm through centuries, the styles have definitely changed over time. The original style introduced by Amir Khusrow was the base and all other styles have evolved from it,” acknowledges the lead singer of the Qawwals.
Sabri Brothers are one of the oldest group of singers in the Indian sub-continent to practice the art of Qawwali and have gained international fame and recognition for their unique style.
Farid says it gives them pleasure to see their work inspiring so many other singers who have also followed their style. It is great that this form of art is spreading, he says. One of the keys of their success has been the selection of poetry for their songs.
“We have a deep interest in poetry. We live with poetry in our lives. It helps us select the appropriate lyrics for our Qawwalis. The selection is mostly visceral for us,” says Farid.
“The best sher (couplet) is the one that comes as aamad (intuitive). The poet does not have to think about it. It strikes his mind. Such a couplet is the most powerful and beautiful. It gives us a great pleasure in singing such couplets,” adds Amin Sabri, the younger brother. They are also known for a style called girah (knot).
“By the grace of God, our family is renowned for incorporating a style what we call ‘girah’ (knot) in a Qawwali. It includes taking a rhyming line from another poet’s work and mixing it with original lyrics in a recurring manner, delivering it in a unique style maintaining the vicissitudes of high and low notes,” Amin Sabri adds.
Farid adds that this ability of girah making is gifted. It cannot be attained with training. And it has “always been there in our family.” The Sabri brothers say they enjoyed performing before the Doha audience.
“It was amazing. We initially thought we would probably have to avoid complex couplets but no, the audience was so good that they were appreciating and giving us positive response on every good couplet,” says Farid.
Giving their family’s background, Amin says the art of Qawwali has been in their family for generations. In the Jaipur city in India, there is a place called Nawab Ka Chohraya, Ghaat Gate Mathra Walon ki Hawaili and their family was invited to that place centuries ago by the Nawabs of the area to present this art in the royal court.
Initially, their ancestors used to perform a different style of classical music. “It was our father who introduced our family to our current form of art and then it began, travelling from one generation to next,” says Amin.
‘Today, our younger generation is also into it. Our entire orchestra is almost formed of the youngsters from our family and they are also practicing it with us on tours abroad,” he adds.
Recently, he says, they went to perform in Austria where a Qawwali programme was organised in a church. When they performed, everybody there applauded and swayed with the rhythm. They sang some 800-year-old Qawwalis.
“Apart from folk, the oldest tradition of singing is that of Qawwali. It was a great form of entertainment. It was spread far and wide. I have been a big fan of Qawwali since my childhood,” Bukhari says.
“And I have been planning for a long time to invite a good Qawwali group here to Doha. We were initially planning to [organise this on] our own and then when we interacted with the Ministry of Interior, they suggested we do it as part of celebrations on the National Day of Qatar. The idea got really big,” he adds.
Bukhari says he is a great fan of Qawwali, Urdu poetry and Urdu language in general and has now become an ardent fan of Sabri Brothers.
Sabri Brothers have a large fan following in India’s film industry Bollywood. Stars like Sunil Dutt and Rajesh Khanna have been great fans of their father. In the recent times, they says, Bollywood star Aamir Khan is a big fan of Qawwali.
“He often invites us to his place and listens to our Qawwalis with complete devotion for hours at a stretch. And such mehfils (sittings) attract other celebrities from Bollywood also,” says Amin Sabri. The duo sang about 15 Qawwalis on the night of National Day celebrations.
In his welcome address, M S Bukhari thanked HH the Emir, HH the Father Emir and the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and prayed for the prosperity of Qatar. Mementos were presented to Brigadier Abdulla Khalifa al-Muftah from MoI by Bukhari and Habibun Nabi. Mementos were also given to the Sabri Brothers.