I had heard of Doctors without Borders and Reporters without Borders, but when I saw a headline in a Pakistani newspaper about Mystics without Borders, it was a first for me and certainly caught my attention.
It turns out a fascinating festival by the name of the “International Mystic Music Sufi Festival” is currently being celebrated in Karachi at the Bara Dari. The festival is being organized by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, which is also the group that has been responsible for the popular World Performing Arts and Theatre Festival held annually in Lahore.
This Sufi festival is the first of its kind in Karachi and certainly an encouraging sign that people are able to express and share their sentiments, devotion, spirituality and passion in diverse ways. This festival is expected to last until May 7, and with an entrance fee of just Rs 300, it promises a lot of entertainment and education to Karachiites. According to the organizers, performers from over 70 countries have been invited to present their specialties in muslim sufi rituals, including music, songs and dances. There are performers from as far away as Syria which can be a delight to watch.
ATP has written before (here, here, here, here, here and here) on some of the great mystic poets and we wish to join the participants in this festival in spirit.
According to the media report:
Usman Peerzada of the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop said that the group’s main aim had been to bring festivals to Pakistan since 1992 and now, as a result of their efforts, the World Performing Arts Festival had become the largest festival of Asia. “Festivals are living festivals and we aim to make the Sufi festival into just that. So please, own the festival,� he said in his address to the audience.
Daily Times spoke to Faizan Peerzada, the master-mind behind the show, to ask him what his audience could expect out of this festival. “A lot of variety. Some of these performers, like the Syrian performers can alone perform for four hours, but we have condensed it into a performance of 32 minutes so that we can manage 17 performances in one day. We have tried to bring together as many performers here as was possible and each one of them is performing a different Islamic tradition, so there’s a collection of so many aspects, which makes this festival unique.�
and the performances so far seem to have kept up to their high expectations:
The curtain raiser began with a performance by Zain-ul-Abideen Shah also known as Jumman Shah and his troupe of five people who sang a qafi by Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. Their performance was followed by a mind-blowing performance by Mithoo and Goonga Saeein, who presented an instrumental using dhols while three of their members whirled around, representing the ecstasy so indispensable to the Sufi tradition. The next performance was by an Iranian four-member group called ‘Bidaat’, after which Kathak dancer Sheema Kirmani stole the show with her brilliant performance on Ameer Khusro’s ‘aaj rang hai’. With her group of two male dancers and two female, she brought the words to life and used the vacuum of the stage as a canvas portraying a beautiful painting that she successfully displayed to an audience that erupted in a round of applause for her.
Another one of the most appreciated performances of the curtain raiser was by Saeein Zahoor who performed a kalaam by Baba Bulleh Shah. Zahoor is a recipient of the BBC World Music Award and performed for an approximate 10 minutes, not a single second of which could be termed as a ‘drag’. A Syrian group called “Sham group of Syrian and Andalusian Music� performed next and recited verses from the Holy Quran.
We hope this Sufi Festival will become a local tradition, and sthat uch art, folk, mystic, music, poetic, dance, and religious festivals will be held regularly in a city that still hosts one of the most diverse and culturally steeped citizenry.
Mr. Zuberi: The ‘Shrine Culture’ over a period has developed in Pakistan and elsewhere under its own dynamics and compulsions. Whether this sub-culture is of our personal liking or not, let us all recognise that it exists. Now the fact that this popular sub-culture has developed around the shrines of the noble men has very little to do with Islam and Tassawaf itself. This cultural event organised and presented by the Pirzada family is an international folk music festival. Let us enjoy it for what it is. Don’t bring Islam into it please. Why the fig leaf.
Our South Asian culture is a treasure that we have to own and to celebrate. It is good that we are doing so and making links with others on it. Good job.
no we dont need another mujjaddid alf saani, we have had enough of mulla omar and hazrat usama already. may God give them what they deserve.
mulla nasruddin will do just fine.
with music its is clear in pakistan and elsewhere - whatever bits of tradition salvaged the better. most have already disappeared and the last generation has already changed their professions and are no longer carrying on their family musical traditions - the exceptions are extremely rare and need to be preserved thru nothing less than plentiful patronage at all costs!
the festival is very good - the artists are diverse coming from many countries - brilliant work by RPTW - the pakistani equally soulful ones get to share a big stage with them.
Unfortunately 2 things:
1. the ticket at RS 300 per day (note per day) was too high although worth every paisa (no longer in currency). In the effort to keep those who cant pay out! by having the RS 300/day ticket, the event was not well-attended even on the weekend - a shame.
2. the publicity before this very large 5 day event- every day 8pm to 2 am was poor. the karachiwallas need to be prepared for this - thru pre-event publicity which was absent except for a four-line item that the event would start the next day. one or two billboards dont do it. poor.
On top of that tickets were not sold at telenor as advertised - but at the gate - a rumour said there were counterfeits …
the event itself was truly exceptional - the set from 1001 nights - with more than half the seats vacant !
hope the peerzadas will learn something about karachi here - it will not come running after them.
I went with my family to the Sufi Music festival. It was a great event and was very well organized. We nee dto project this true side of our culture rather than outsiders try to highjack our real heritage with their version of Arabism. We are not Arabs so lets not try to act like them.
Good job, Rafi peer.
[quote post="695"]If I am not wrong, Islam mostly spread in the Indian subcontinent through the efforts of Sufis[/quote]
100% true.
[quote post="695"]Had the invaders brought along the puritanical Salafi/Wahabi version of Islam,[/quote]
there is only One version of Islam. Islam haters of later times promoted it with different labels to justify their agenda. Wahabi Islam is based on Shafa’i Teachings which are not different than teachings of Imam Hanifa[RA] who are Imam of Majority of subcontinent muslims. Wahabi ISlam is Bidat-free and every “Muslim” knows that Bidat in Islam is Haram and Allah and Rasool[saw] both condemned it.
Sufis like Bahauddin Zakarya[Ra], Shahbaz Qalander[ra],Mian meer, Shah BHitai[Ra] and many more didn’t preach anything against the Sunnah and Quran and NONE of them proposed the version of suffism which these liberals are trying to preach in Pakistan due to western order. Learn to make difference ,People don’t accept the filthy idea of sufiism which liberals try to promote by injecting Music in it . Noone deny the status of Ali Hejveri[ra] and others but yes people do reject the crazy claims that these sufis were not part of Islam and their teachings were secular. It’s not difficult to find “Kashful Mahjoob”- The book is like “Sufiism for Dummies” and clearly explains the difference between real Suffism and the fake one which liberals preach and believe.
If I am not wrong, Islam mostly spread in the Indian subcontinent through the efforts of Sufis and mystics. The diluted version, which included singing and dancing due their cultural significance locally, presented by mystics was easier to sell in India. Until Saudi Arabian oil boom started funding Salafiism worldwide, it was the Sufis’ Islam (which is softer, non-violent and more palatable) was predominantly practised in Pakistan.
Had the invaders brought along the puritanical Salafi/Wahabi version of Islam, I doubt there would have been so many takers of that religion in India. Now if Sufi Islam is considered heretical, does that mean that the earlier generations of Paki/Indian believers were lesser Muslims? Why can’t we have a local tinge to Islam, which was primarily evolved in an Arabian milieu, to adapt it to local conditions?
PS: My comments are not meant to offend Islam or anyone.
Islam is all about Submission to Allah. the day you liberals understand the real meanings of it, you people will start seeking such excuse in religion.