by JAVERIA SHAKIL-KAZIM
Not too long ago, I came across this video of a group of women performing Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s famous qawwali ‘Tumhe dillagi bhool jani paregi’. To see white women rendering a classical qawwali was shocking, amusing and entertaining in equal measure.
The singing sounded off-key at times, the notes weren’t always perfect and the pronunciation of words was found wanting. What they didn’t lack, however, was passion while singing. They looked unbothered about how they sounded and what might be said about their performance. They seemed to be living in the moment as they swayed with the rhythm of the ever-enchanting kalam.
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