Desi Corner: SUFI MUSIC

For our first post in the Desi Corner, about which we mentioned in our desi post, I had many many things to choose from. I even wrote about a few that will be showing up here in the coming weeks. But somehow I wasn't feeling that they were the right intro to the desi's. So the birth of yet another post.

 I don't know if this is true for everybody or not, but for us we get to know about many cultures through Music. Over the years many songs have become the mantra of youth and recognized by the world, songs that none of us understood but still they were on our lips like a religious chant. They were played in the clubs ( no personal experience, just a guess), they were blaring from the stereos of our cars ( personal experiences), and were full blast on  in the CD shops. There are so many of these, MACARENA, The Ketchup song, Papi cholo (it was really big back home) and many many more. I myself am not a music person, but i too get engulfed in the fad music, and somehow those artists of entirely different origins and completely different languages become a part of us and our minds for sometime. They sometimes give you glimpse, however wrong that maybe, into the world entirely alien to ours. Music does that, it brings people closer, It diminishes boundaries.

In my desi land, Music is a big part of people's life. We have all sorts of music pop, rock, folk. But what I want to talk about in this post is the SUFI Music.

What is sufism?   According to Wikipedia "Classical Sufi scholars have defined Sufism as "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God".Alternatively, in the words of the Darqawi Sufi teacher Ahmad ibn Ajiba, "a science through which one can know how to travel into the presence of the Divine, purify one's inner self from filth, and beautify it with a variety of praiseworthy traits". And  Sufis believe they are practicing ihsan (perfection of worship) as revealed by Gabriel to Muhammad: "Worship and serve Allah as you are seeing Him and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you". Sufis consider themselves as the original true proponents of this pure original form of Islam.

 Sufi's are a big part of our culture. I myself am very new to this, but here is what i know a little about them. They've played important role in promoting peace and harmony in our society and one of the biggest reasons of promoting Islamic Virtues in densely populated Hindu society. Sufi's traditionally have had followers regardless of religion. I was exposed to sufi music since i was a little kid. Sufism is found all around the Muslim countries. Iraq, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan. Our sufis are famous for their poetry. Prominent names are Baba Bullah Shah, Waris Shah, Ghulam Fareed. To the masses their poetry reaches through the folk artists who sing their work. Sufi music is very popular thing in my desi land. We have many many artists, singing the poetry of the sufis. Nusrat Fateh Ali, Rahet Fateh Ali, Abida Parveen, Arif Lohar, Saeiin Zahoor are just a few names in a long list of artist. The song I am sharing here is one which has become famous in the past years. Its a fusion of a traditional folk and new age music. Hope you enjoy.