Quawwali Music (Essay Sample)

Quawwali Music
Explanation of the Music
Quawwali music is among the most famous music in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. This as a type music is of poetic nature and is performed by the Sufi Muslims with the aim of leading the listeners to ecstasy state of religion. This is interpreted as a union with Allah (God) that is spiritual in nature. Qawwals are the people that are responsible for the performance of this type of music. The quawwals are as a matter of factor male groupings that undertakes to perform these songs to assemblies of men who are devoted to God. The messages of these songs are always motivational in nature in cultivating a sense of spiritual harmony among the devotees (Qureshi, 23). Furthermore, these songs always tend to be short with a complete tune alongside six lines. The message of the songs in most cases is found within the first two opening sentences. The performance of these songs is led by a vocalist. This vocalist is assisted by the other males who basically do the clapping and the singing. An instrument called the harmonium supports the melody of the song while the performance is also enhanced by the use of head drum. The aspect of these songs being religious and spiritual in nature makes the Shrines as the most preferable settings of the performance of the same songs. As such, the Sufi shrines are the places where these songs are performed especially to celebrate any death of a Sufi Saint (Qureshi, 29). The performance of these songs falls on special days of the week most specifically Friday which is the Islamic day of prayer or Thursday. It is also important to state that globalization has had an impact on the performance of these songs such that the shrines are not the only places where these songs are practices. Equally, the audience of these songs has also embraced women unlike in the past where only men constituted the audience
As stated before, the Quawwali songs are performed by male persons to other male persons that are spiritually devoted. These persons are the follow the concept of Sufi in Islamic. The Sufism concept is based on the inner fascination of following the traditional Islamic worship based on the teachings of Prophet Mohammed. Sufism is based on the true adherence to Islamic law and is based on the notion that one should serve and worship God as if he was seeing God in person (Qureshi, 15). The popularity of Sufism as one of the Islamic movements is based on its strongest opposition to involvement of material or worldly aspects in religion. As such, the other Islamic groups such as Salafist and to some extend the Wahhabi Muslim Groups are opposed of this group that insists that declares itself as the most pure form of Islam.
Reasons for Popularity
The Quawwali music is popular in the Northern Part of India, Pakistan region of Punjab and some parts of Bangladesh because mostly because of its association with Sufism. Most Sufis Muslims migrated into these areas from the Persian region, which it the present location of Iran. The Sufis Muslims constitute the majority of the Muslims in these regions and because of its significance in the religious aspects; Quawwali music has become very famous in these areas. The other aspect which makes these songs very famous in these areas is because of the regarding the same as a cultural heritage and identify of most people in these areas. The 20th century was the period in which the Quawwali songs were publicized on the globe and as such, people in these areas have held on this heritage as a way of opening up opportunities that come as a result of the performance of these songs.
Music Instruments
There are three instruments that are most common in the performance of the Quawwali songs. These are identified as Dholak, Tabla and Harmonium. These instruments accompany the performance of these songs for enhancing the sound aspect of the music. The Dholak is a hand-drum with two heads with different face sizes (a small face and a large face). It is established that the small face is made of the skin of a female goat to produce a sharper note (Dutta, 40). On the other hand, the large face is said to be made from the skin of a male goat so as to achieve the production of a sound of low pitch. The hand pumped harmonium is the other instrument used in these songs. Pleasant sound is produced by pumping and removing the air and as such is used to accompany the performance of the quawwali songs. Sometimes, the performers wear it on their shoulders during the performance sessions. Tabla as instruments consists of hand drums that come I pairs of different timbres and sizes. A varying sounds and rhythms are produced through the skillful use of figure tapings on different sections of these drums.
Indian music and the Film Industry
The vocal aspects and spiritual aspects of the quawwali are still used in various Indian music genres. The various Indian music genres include the Indian classics, Dhammar, Thumri and Geet (Dutta, 34). In fact, the religious aspect is the most defining aspect of Ind...