Friday 26 June 2015

An unexpected delight!

Last evening I went to a handicrafts fair at Chitra Kala Parishat (the College of Fine Arts), and in addition to all the amazing stuff I saw (some of which I bought), I also got to experience this:


Folk singers from Rajasthan! I've always loved their music (well, not ALWAYS, just since the '90s), and together with the green and rocky setting of CKP, they made my evening magical. Just felt like sharing this with you, even though my videography leaves much to be desired.


There are two better videos but I couldn't upload them here, so have put them on YouTube instead. You can see them here:

The nicest video (also the most problematic to upload!)

The second-nicest video

They're singing Mast Qalandar, a well known Sufi song. It's usually sung in Qawwali style, and I think it became more popular after Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sang it. Here's another version that starts in quite a different style by another singer, Abida Parveen. Her intro is more Hindustani classical, with all the vocal improv upon a particular scale/raga.

I don't know much about it, and can only understand a few of the lyrics, but the song itself is about the Prophet Muhammad's nephew Hazrat Ali.

I like the way it sounds.

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