"Yeh sangeet cheez aisi hain, ki agar iska sahi istimal kiya jaaye, toh aapko is duniya se kisi doosre duniya me pahaucha deti hain"

"Music, if used in the right way, has the ability to elevate you to a higher plane of consiousness."

- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Amir Khusrau with his teacher Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya (ajnabi57/Tumblr)

Sufi music is the most spiritually rewarding kind of music there is. As Dr. Varun Soni, Dean of Religious Life at USC and author of "Natural Mystics" - a book that charts the prophetic life of Sufi legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - explains, "popular music is created with an intention to entertain, while Sufi music is created with the intention to elevate."

At the center of the charm of Sufi music lies the poetic depth of its lyrics. The lyrics to popular Sufi songs date back to medieval times when undoubtedly the greatest Urdu and Punjabi poetry was composed by Amir Khusrau, Baba Bulleh Shah and other pioneers of the Sufi poetic and musical traditions.

SUBCONTINENTAL SUFISM AND QAWWALI MUSIC

Sufi music has a rich historical tradition in the subcontinental region of India and Pakistan. Sufi music comes under the larger umbrella of Sufism, the often overlooked mystical sect of Islam. In "Natural Mystics," Dr. Soni points out that the Sufi movement mushroomed alongside the medieval Bhakti movement that preached a more devotional and direct approach to Hinduism. Veneered Sufi saints like Nizamuddin Auliya and Moinuddin Chisti preached ideals such as peace, co-operation, charity and the importance of love as a means of realizing Allah.

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What truly sets the Sufis apart from most religious sects is the importance they place on music as a divine tool for worship. This takes place through the Qawwali, a spiritual gathering where a group of musicians deliver Sufi messages to devotees while catapulting them to a state of mystical ecstasy. Although the performance of Qawwali music has traditionally been restricted to shrines and religious gatherings, it is now often performed in unconventional contexts and venues such as concert halls and music festivals.

THE LEGENDS

Sabri Brothers

Ghulam Farid Sabri (1930-1994) and Maqbool Ahmed Sabri (1945-2011) were two of the first ambassadors of Sufi music to the West. This was marked by their performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1975 and their appearance at the Womad festival in the UK in 1989. They recorded a number of domestically produced traditional Qawwali albums in Pakistan and several internationally produced albums such as "Ya Habib" with Peter Gabriel's Real World Records.

The Sabri brothers were quite revolutionary as they performed at a diverse array of venues and extensively used mass media to get their music across to thousands of people. This was highly unorthodox as Qawwali music is historically performed only at divine occasions.

As is common in the Sufi tradition, their musical training was carefully transferred to them through a familial lineage. They were trained by their father Ustad Inayat Sen Sabri in Qawwali and North Indian classical music. In their lyrics, the Sabri brothers incorporated historical anecdotes and some of the greatest Sufi poetry written in Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic and Persian. They explored popular Sufi themes such as love, worship, intoxication and separation from the beloved.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997) was the foremost exponent of South Asian Sufi musical traditions at a global level. Due to the extraordinary range of his vocal abilities and his improvisational genius, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest voices ever recorded.

Khan was born in Faisalabad, Pakistan to a similar lineage of Qawwali artists. His father Ustad Fateh Ali Khan was a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist skilled in a variety of musical styles and traditions. Nusrat was discouraged at a young age to pursue a career in music by his father, who insisted that he would lead a more rewarding life as a physician. However, Nusrat was adamant and eventually went on to carry on the family legacy. Trained by his father and uncle, Nusrat eventually went on to lead the familial Qawwali party. Alongside his younger brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, he toured domestically and internationally, prompting a global revival of traditional Sufi or Qawwali music.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his Party boast a prolific discography which includes dozens of traditional Qawwali albums, as well as a handful of experimental and world music albums. Some of his notable international collaborations include tracks with A.R. Rahman, Massive Attack, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and world music producers Peter Gabriel and Michael Brook. His voice also features in the soundtracks for Martin Scorcese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" and Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers". What set Nusrat apart from other Qawwals was the incorporation of diverse contemporary influences in his music and an unmatched ability to skillfully break the traditional structure of Qawwali music with melodic improvisations.

NOTABLE CONTEMPORARY SUFI AND QAWWALI ARTISTS

Abida Parveen

Wadali Brothers

Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad

Reach Staff Reporter Adi Radia here and follow him on Twitter here.