The Embassy of Pakistan in Paris arranged a Qawwali evening where guests were treated to a captivating performance of soulful Sufi poetry by renowned Pakistani Qawwal Bakhtyar Ali Santoo and his team.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, in his welcome address, highlighted that Qawwali had been in practice since the 13th century and the credit for popularizing it rested mostly with Hazrat Amir Khusrau, according to a Pakistan embassy’s press release received Friday.
He noted that there was a time when Qawwali was sung only at shrines of Sufi saints but now this form of music was appreciated widely including formal and informal occasions, movies and other events.
Giving an insight into how the transformation of Qawwali took shape from a ritual function to one of entertainment; from a traditional community event to an international commercial one – the ambassador credited it to a generation of famous Qawwals from Sabri brothers to Aziz Mian and most prominently the supremo Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
