Talking about streaming knowledge and wisdom. Last night I had a wonderful experience of Sufi music: Punjabi qawwali from Asif Ali Khan & Party in the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. This “Soul Of Pakistan” gave a moving and electrifying performance. His deeply emotional performance got people on their feet and joining the essential clapping rhythms of his highly spiritual and devotional music. It even triggered people from the audience throwing money on the performers, which I had never seen in Holland before.
Asif Ali Khan is one of the most promising qawwals since the much regretted Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Asif’s personal style and energy in his performance is in the direct line of a egalitarian Sufi tradition. His spiritual concerts are a blend of music and mystical poems, as a way to get to experience the divine presence within one’s own heart. This Sufi tradition still counts some 50 million adepts from Morocco to the Indian sub continent and is remarkably alive and well today.
Asif Ali Khan undertakes regular world tours and is acclaimed by the Pakistani diaspora everywhere, even going as far as a duo with Bruce Springsteen. He still has profound ties with the Sufi shrines in Pakistan, continuing to offer his singing, his faith and his relentless spirit at the numerous spiritual concerts held there throughout the year.
You can listen to songs of his album Mazarana on various sites using Google.com, one is Artist Direct.