The Magical Sufi Music
The diverse, multicultural nature of India’s population makes it home to a wide range of beautiful traditional art forms. One of the most celebrated of these art forms is Sufi Music. While it doesn’t originate in India, it is integral to India’s culture and also has a major presence among the lives of all Indians, including those who aren’t even practitioners or followers of Sufism or Islam, thanks to the success of a number of Sufi artists in Bollywood.
What is Sufi Music?
Sufi music is a form of music that originates from the practice of Sufism, a belief system in Islam that seeks the unravelling of the ultimate divine truth. Sufi Music is considered a form of devotional music performed by Sufis in order to achieve a divine connection with God and strengthen their bonds. There are many kinds of Sufi music and different people have different kinds of beliefs about it from a religious perspective. While a lot of Sufi practitioners believe it to be a form of devotional or prayer music, there are also a few of them that believe it goes against the core beliefs of Islam. This goes in line with the set of followers of Islam that believe music does not belong to their religion.
Sufi Music in India
Sufi Music found its Indian origins during the reign of the Delhi Sultanate. Unique to Sufi Music on the Indian subcontinent is the Qawwali, a sub-genre of Sufi Music originated here.
Modern Sufi Music was brought to the fore in India by the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Shankar-Shambhu who are among the most famous performers of the art in the modern world. Sufi Music has undergone a sort of renaissance in the modern Indian music industry. It has become an extremely popular form of music in India and artists like Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Kailash Kher, Atif Aslam and more.
Bollywood’s Association with Sufi Music
Ever since the late 2000s, Bollywood has featured various Sufi Artists and songs in its films, giving rise to a sort of Sufi revolution in the industry. Many artists like Kailash Kher, Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Mohit Chauhan have found a lot of success by performing Sufi Music for Bollywood films. Even established music producers and singers like A.R. Rehman have experimented with their music by taking inspiration from and trying out their own versions of Sufi music for films.
There are many examples of Sufi Music in Bollywood. Notable ones include Khwaja Mere Khwaja from Jodha Akbar, Kun Faya Kun from Rockstar, Allah Ke Bande from Waise Bhi Hota Hai and O Re Piya from Aaja Nachle.
Notable Artists
There are many artists that have made Sufi Music famous through their talents and unique takes on it. In the modern era, there are many different kinds of Sufi Music and artists have adopted many amalgamations of Sufi Music with modern ways.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is a Pakistani Qawwali artist who is considered among the greatest voices to have ever existed. He is among the main artists responsible for popularizing Sufi music and bringing it to the fore. He is known as Shahenshah-e-Qawwali or the Emperor of Qawwali. He has left behind an incredible legacy of an entire genre of music, and had an incredible range of vocal talents. Some of his most popular work includes songs like Tere Bin Nahin Lagda, Afreen Afreen,
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has been considered an inspiration for a lot of popular Bollywood artists like A.R. Rehman, Mohit Chauhan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, his nephew who is carrying his legacy forward. He is considered by many as the most important Qawwal in history, having been nominated for many awards including Grammy awards and once having held the Guinness World Record for most Qawwalis performed.
He also has a huge influence at an international level, having performed alongside artists like Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Canadian guitarist Michael Brook. He contributed to the soundtrack of the film, Dead Man Walking and there are many modern international artists that take inspiration from his work including Nadia Ali and Zayn Malik. His music is appreciated by many famous personalities Indian, as well as International including Amitabh Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Mick Jagger and Sean Penn. He is by far the most famous Sufi Artist in the world.
Kailash Kher
One of the most famous contemporary Sufi artists, Kailash Kher is has a very prominent presence in the Indian film and music industry and is revered by many Indians as a very talented and respected singer. He made his mark on the Indian music industry with the song, Allah ke Bande which went viral and has been on the playlist of many Indians ever since its release. He has made a very successful career in Bollywood and has become famous because of his unique voice that is suited to Sufi music in its most traditional and original forms alongside his fluency in Urdu.
Some of his most famous songs include Teri Deewani, Ya Rabba from Salaam-E-Ishq, Bismillah and Mere Maula from Khakee.
Kailash Kher takes inspiration from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for his style of music and has one of the most soulful voices in the industry. He has also performed live on Coke Studio with several other traditional artists on folk songs and has been a judge on many singing shows.
Sufi music is beautiful to listen to and reaches out to some of our innermost emotions. You can’t help but get lost in the beauty of it when you listen to it, such is the sense of mesmerization of Sufi artists and their songs.
