Manjari Chaturvedi's ‘Qawwali: The Call of Hearts in Love’: Elaborate notes on qawwali

With 27 essays by 18 scholars, ‘Qawwali: The Call of Hearts in Love’ is a comprehensive read of the art form, conceived by dancer-scholar Manjari Chaturvedi.

“Qawwali is a means of spiritual elevation, a music form associated with the Sufi traditions of the Indian subcontinent,” the author begins. Many believe that Islam prohibits music in its practice. However, Islam, as it evolved in the Indian subcontinent, clearly took a different path. In the extensively researched first chapter, she quotes Hazrat Abu Hamid al-Ghazali: “The study of the text alone is not sufficient preparation for spiritual union with God.” Establishing his credentials, Manjari writes, “Hazrat al-Ghazali was considered to be the 11th century’s Mujaddid (renewer of the faith) and so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that he was awarded the honorific title ‘Proof of Islam’ (Hujjar al-Islam)…”

This connection of music and the mystic experience was a very Indian concept, seen in Hinduism and Sikhism. Scholar Gopi Chand Narang is quoted thus: “…in its present form, qawwali is first and foremost an exquisite manifestation of the music and culture born from the interaction of Hinduism and Islam.”

The book has a foreword by Muzzafar Ali and has been divided into sub-groups. Sufism and the Sufi orders are clubbed in one section. The next deals with qawwali’s Nizamuddin link, including Amir Khusrau.

When exploring Punjab, it details the history of arguably the most popular qawwali of our times, ‘Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’. Other sections are on Ajmer, Awadh, the Deccan and qawwali’s link with poetry. A section researches the feminine in qawwali, and lastly, qawwali as it is today.

Sufi saints of Punjab, including Baba Farid, Sultan Bahu, Shah Husain and Bulleh Shah, left behind a rich legacy, which was incorporated into the qawwali tradition by greats like Fateh Ali and Mubarak Ali Khan of Jalandhar, who descended from Amir Khusrau’s 12 Qawwal Bachche.

Fateh Ali’s son Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is arguably the most popular qawwal of our times, but is not covered in this book.

In ‘Anthropology of Qawwali’, Vinay Kumar Srivastava and Rachna Atri Saksena dismissively write about Nusrat: “…these performers, often detached from specific shrines or religious lineages, are viewed as singers adopting qawwali’s style without embodying its sacred and communal essence.”

There are some evocative photos of Ustad Ranjhan Ali of the Qadri Silsila in Amritsar. The chapter on the history of Sindhi saints Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and Jhule Lal is fascinating. The Deccan connection of qawwali is a brief essay on the Warsi brothers. Much isn’t written on their lineage.

One of the most interesting, and perhaps relevant in today’s context, is the essay by Manjari herself: ‘Sanatani Qawwali’, researched primarily from a 1935 booklet titled ‘Kauwali Bahar’, written by Pt Manilal Mishra, published in Banaras. ‘Kanhaiya, Yaad Hai Kuchh Bhi Hamari’, a qawwali sung by Fareed Ayaz and Abu Mohammed, is just one example of the syncretic musical culture that existed. Incidentally, Fareed Ayaz descended from Khusrau’s Qawwal Bachche and moved to Pakistan after Partition.

The concluding essay by Pragya Tiwari examines the changed context of singing qawwali in non-sacred spaces, without the prescribed conditions (zaman, makaan and ikhwaan). She questions: “Does performing outside the code of conduct change the fundamental nature of qawwali? Adaptation is key to survival and continuity, but at what point does it tip into cultural appropriation?”

‘Qawwali’ is a must-read for anyone interested in this unique art form.

— The reviewer writes on music