LAHORE: Nothing can beat an evening of live qawwali and the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, resounded with it on Sunday evening when a qawwali evening was organised, featuring Saami Brothers who performed at the centre for the fourth time.

The stage was aesthetically bedecked with marigolds. A good number of qawwali listeners came to soothe their souls through the devotional Sufi music. The evening was organised by the Lahore Arts Council (LAC).

Singer Zaib Bangash gave a brief introduction to the Saami Brothers. The evening was unveiled with a melodious instrumental performance followed by Mann Kunto Maula while the next was Meray Banay Ki Baat Na Phuchu Mera Banna Haryala Hai. Saami Brothers enthralled the audience with Persian and Punjabi spiritual poetry. Belonging to a traditional Indian singing gharana, they were all well-versed with the structure and aesthetics of qawwali and also knew how to make it adapt contemporary music while keeping its essence alive. They lifted the crowd’s spirits with reverberating and resonant vocals.

Talking to Dawn, Rauf Saami, the lead vocalist of the group, gave a brief introduction to his gharana. He said that they were known as Delhi Gharana or Qawwal Bacha Gharana.

“Our ancestor Mian Saamat was the only pupil of Amir Khusrow and our family is into this tradition of Qawwali singing for the last 800 years.”

Rauf, who performed with his three brothers Arooj Saami, Azeem Saami and Ahmed Saami, said their father Ustad Naseeruddin Saami is a classical vocalist and Qawwal of great substance.

‘My maternal grandfather Munshi Raziuddin Ahmad Qawwal had a huge contribution towards the promotion of traditional Qawwali,” he added.

The group has performed in the USA, Australia, Germany, India and Afghanistan.

LAC BoG Chairman Raziuddin Ahmad said they would try to organise an event every Sunday as a part of its cultural calendar.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2022