Ya Habib

Whilst the poetry is all important to the Sufi, the passion and intensity of the music also have the power to move someone who cannot understand the words, seeming to touch the heart and stir the spirit directly, causing an intoxication, a rapturous joy and an understanding which speaks in a transcendent language.

The stories tell us that Qawwali was born in the 12th century, when the great Sufi saint Hazrat Moinuddin Chisti (buried at Ajmer, India) first came to bring the message of Islam to the Hindus of India.  Seeing how people loved their own devotional music (bhajans) much more than his discourses, he realised that the way to their hearts was to sing the praises of Allah.  He was, of course, drawing on a long tradition of ecstatic, joyful and mystical singing, reaching back over two centuries to the early traditions of Turko-Persian mystics.  This rich heritage, drawing both on the great Sufi saints, such as Amir Khusro, and on anonymous folk contributors, has built the formidable range and diversity which is the Qawwali poetry of today.

The Sabri Brothers are Pakistan’s foremost and best loved Qawwals.  For over thirty years they have thrilled audiences all over the world with their stunning virtuosity and brilliant exposition; with the tremendous power, subtlety, and sensitive beauty of their singing.

Their musical lineage stretches back over many centuries, and their vocation has been passes down through generations of great musicians.  They began their training at the age of five with their father, Ustad Inayat Kahn.  In 1947, after the partition of India, the family came to Pakistan.  Suffering the many hardships of those times they were not daunted and continued to sing, first with their father and uncle, and later forming their own group.  Their first record in 1958 propelled them to fame in Pakistan.  Since then they have made numerous recordings and won many awards and prizes both in their own country and worldwide.

They live very simply in Karachi, in the manner of the Sufi of the fakir.  Such are the respect and recognition in which they are held that everyone knows the way to their door and a letter addressed ‘Sabri Brothers, Pakistan’ seems to find its destination with ease.