PDSFM on Tahir Qawwal

Originally from a small town in Nova-Scotia in Canada, Tahir Faridi Qawwal has been on a journey into music and mysticism within the Indian subcontinent from a very young age. At 15 he was taken in by the great tabla maestro Harjeet Seyan Singh, and under his tutelage learnt Indian rhythm cycles for several years.

Tahir's late teens were mostly spent wandering in the Gharwal Himalayas, living as a lonely dervish, practising the yogic path and searching for sur with a shruti box in hand. 'Sur' is at the heart of all Indian/Pakistani classical music and, when translated to English, means 'purity of sound and pitch'. He says: 'Dissolving oneself within any perfect sur under the shade of a tuned tampura is total bliss.'

In 2001, Tahir and his musical companion Aminah Chishty first formed Fanna-Fi-Allah, a traditionally arranged qawwali ensemble devoted to spreading the sufi message in the West. The ensemble has since performed at hundreds of festivals, gatherings and concerts worldwide. Tahir Faridi's performances within the traditional classical/semi-classical genre are offered internationally by his ensemble Sufi Soul Sangeet, which is made up of a classical tabla nawaz, an instrumentalist ( sarangi or Bansuri ) and Bhairavi Devi on support vocals.

Recently, Tahir has been touring in Australia with his ensemble known as the Tahir Faridi Qawwal & Party. They will be performing at CERES on Tuesday 12 April, with the Kirtaniyas. On Sunday 10th April, Tahir will phone into the Global Village to talk about his music and the philosophy behind it.

Global Village for Sunday 10 April 2016

Source: https://www.pbsfm.org.au/node/54169