The Qawwali Project – An Untold Story

In the Sufi tradition of Mehfil-e-Sama (assembly for listening), qawwali forms a link to religious ecstasy and to God for the performer and listener alike. Devotees donate money to the Qawwals as part of their obeisance to the Saint. The performers continue singing undisturbed, an age old tradition followed equally by men and women at every shrine.

The Qawwali Project, is an initiative conceptualized by Manjari Chaturvedi where the untold story of Qawwali unfolds through the eyes of photographers. The practitioners are photo-documented with their performance art, their lives and their association with the Sufi shrines where they perform. Qawwali is the performance art and Qawwal is the practitioner. This is an attempt by the Sufi Kathak Foundation to document the traditions as they exist at the shrines itself.