The Origin and Journey of Qawwali

Abstract

This article deals with origin, evolution and the heritage of Sufi music. The objective of this article is to trace the journey of Sufi musical practices and traditions across the world, their forms, and how Sufi music has created a heritage and subculture across the Muslim as well as non-Muslim world carving an identity for itself as liberal or spiritual Islam rather than legal Islam. Philosophic Qur’anic verses, such as ‘Poverty is my pride’, are the bedrock of Sufism and quoted in every manual of Sufi doctrine. Such verses are limitless in their depth, scope and meaning, and the reader/listener may draw as much mystical meaning as s/he has the capacity to understand. The propagation of Sufism started from its origin in Baghdad, Iraq, and spread to Persia, Pakistan, North Africa, Central Asia and Muslim Spain. Sufism has produced a large body of poetry in Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and even Bangla, from which the genre of Sufi music, lyrics and qawwali has emerged. The Sufi poetry has integrated with the local musical culture of the various parts of the world and created a rainbow of variations down the ages. This article draws upon published literature from several languages on the origins of Sufi music, including qawwali, and collates samples of Sufi music from across the world and synthesizes the results.