“After I finish concert, and I come back to my room, and then I can’t express the kind of joy, the kind of energy that goes in my body”- Pandit Shivkumar Sharma

Shivkumar sharma

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma is a very famous classical musician who has acquired international fame by playing the classical instrument, Santoor. The Santoor is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut wood and has 72 strings, which are struck with two delicate carved wooden mallets. The santoor is essentially a folk instrument that originated in the Kashmir Valley, which was given the status of a classical instrument due to the persistent efforts of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Reaching at this level in life was not easy for him and it is because of the determination of Shivkumar Sharma that the Santoor is a popular classical instrument.

Rahul Sharma: A young face of Indian Classical music

Rahul Sharma with Zakir Hussain

Rahul Sharma born in Mumbai is an Indian classical musician of Hindustani classical music. He plays santoor and is also a vocalist. Shivkumar Sharma, his father, mastered the instrument by experimenting with various striking positions and tones. Rahul Sharma continued the tradition of the instrument. He was always in love with music, singing and playing the harmonium at an early age. Learning the santoor at age 13, he wasn’t completely sure of pursuing music until he turned 17. After studying economics at Mumbai’s Mithibai College, Rahul Sharma began performing with his father. He started accompanying him in concerts in 1996, at the age of 24.

Teen Prahar

Teen Prahar

Conceived by Mahesh Babu in 2006 Teen Prahar is an extended evening concert. It aims to give a treat of ragas that are not heard in the regular night concerts. It includes ragas from late afternoon, twilight, night. It will feature three different genres (classical, semi-classical & fusion) and it features artists that are from three different stages in creative life (young talent, maestro-in-the-making & great masters).

Sufi flavor on western instruments

Azaan Khan with his first solo album.

Click here to see how 23 year old Azaan Khan creates his first solo Sufi album purely using western instruments.

Sufi Mystics Get A Modern Soundtrack

Riad Abdel-Gawad at Giza Pyramids

Riad Abdel-Gawad, a noted Egyptian-American Sufi violinis is Harvard Ph.D in Composition. He creates new Sufi music by translating sacred chants to the violin. He believes Sufi music can take us closer to God. Click here to check out the compositions from Riad.

 

Sufi: The music of Soul

Sufi Quote

Sound and music occupy an important place in the life of most Sufis. It is a tool for the believer to get closer to God, dissolving the physical realm into the spiritual one by polishing the heart and enhancing the spiritual aspect of the human being over the physical being. However not all schools emphasize this. Dhikr, or God’s remembrance, “Mawlid Annabawi,” praising and blessings of the prophet are what Sufis concentrate on. Depending on the different “Tariquats” or “schools of thought,” it is done out loud or within the silence of the heart. Dhikr is also considered as a form of meditation to connect to God and draw the divine energy into the world of matter. “Mawlid,” for some, is the expression of love one has towards the prophet, or for others it could also be to embody His qualities and to testify to God that He delivered the message He was entrusted to do.

Sufi music is a journey of life-long devotion: Muzaffar Ali

Mazaffar Ali: Film director

Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on his new book ‘A Leaf Turns Yellow: The Sufis of Awadh’. Click here to check out a candid interview with Mazaffar Ali speaking about place of Sufi in his life.

World Sufi Spirit Festival: A perfect treat for music aficionados

The Sufi festival for classical music lovers. An amazing journey of Sufi music with maestros performing on forts and palaces. An experience of lifetime. Divine!. Click here  to know the spirit of Sufi.

Artists performing in World Sufi spirit festival 2014.

Tere pyaar main mera ishq Sufiyana…..

We often hear our parents say that old songs were too good compared to today’s Bollywood songs. Bollywood music has always been a mixture of various genres of music from classical to western to rock and many others. It has widened its horizons where boundaries don’t matter and what matters is the music which will be loved and sold. This saw entrance of many Pakistani singers in Indian Bollywood music. As we know all music directors have share ears and can go any extent in search of good music. Lets have a look how Sufi music won hearts in Bollywood. Click here to check out top 10 Sufi songs in Bollywood.

Still from ‘Khwaja’ song of movie Jodha Akbar and ‘chand sifarish’ song of movie Fanaa.

Sufi music in India: The qawwali

The famous Wadali brothers singing qawwali.

In India and Pakistan, it is the Qawwali, made globally popular by Shankar-Shambhu and Nustrat Fateh Ali Khan, that has been known to move the audiences to a state of emotional rapture. Actually, in the Indian subcontinent, Sufi thoughts find expression through several musical genres: Qawwali, Qaul, Qalbana, Ghazal, folk forms from Rajasthan, Sindh & Punjab, Sufiyana kalam from Kashmir, etc. Nonetheless, it is Qawwali, the homegrown genre attributed to Amir Khurau Dehlavi (1253 – 1325) that seems to be the most popular ‘food for the soul’. No doubt it shares general traits with the light classical music of the region; however, with elements such as mystical poetry and powerful rhythm suggesting ceaseless repetition of God’s name (zikr), the music of Qawwali fulfills a religious function; to arouse mystical love and divine ecstasy, which is the core experience of Sufism.