The qawwali group, led by Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan, will showcase their new album, At the Feet of the Beloved, as well as playing the UK premiere of performances from Chain of Light, the lost Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan album which was first released last year; discovered 34 years after it was recorded.

The two lead singers come from a direct family line of Qawwali music that spans over five centuries. Their grandfather was an uncle of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and taught Nusrat the art of qawwali vocal music. They have continued their uncle’s pioneering efforts to transcend cultural, language and religious barriers and to bring to the world the devotional but vibrant Qawwali vocal music of the Sufi mystics.

“One of the most exhilarating improvised vocal styles on the planet.” (The Guardian)

The band performs in traditional style – sitting on the ground rather than on seats – which they believe brings them closer to God. They sing in Farsi (Persian), Punjabi, and Urdu with an intensity that has led one commentator to call them, only half in jest, “the Qawwali Clash.”

Their live performances are majestic, hypnotic, exciting, and deeply joyful, and it takes classical music into totally unexpected corners. Performing songs that use hypnotic vocal repetition to induce a state of ecstasy, their soaring voices are backed by a gharana, an ensemble of harmonium and tabla accompanied by handclaps.

“Rizwan and Muazzam’s voices climb and swoop as if riding air currents; the harmonium seeks a similar undulating flight path while fingertips flutter like hummingbirds across the tablas.” (BBC)

Performers

Rizwan Ali Khan Lead Singer

Muazzam Ali Khan Lead Singer

+ Harmonium, Tabla and 5 accompanying singers

Presented by Asian Arts Agency