The Qawwali Project – An Untold Story

Prayers at times spoken, at times sung, are uttered all day at the shrine especially on Basant. The Qawwals describe a typical scene of basant, of a waning winter day of a blooming yellow mustard field, with the promise of heralding spring, the women all decked in finery, the birds singing and flowers everywhere. And thus we come to the threshold of Nizamuddin holding the chadar (long woven decorated cloth) and these mustard flowers as a offering to the Beloved Pir.

Listen to one of the traditional 700 year old compositions of Basant on this link.

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.