| Mehr and Sher Ali are Qawwali singers who were born in the Pakistani border-town of Kasur in the early 1950s and received their earlier training in classical music from their father who was a court classical singer at the small Sikh principality of Patiala (now in India). Their father then became the disciple of Fateh Ali Khan, the father of the famous Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and young Sher Ali was the student of Bakhshi Salamat Ali Qawwal. Mehr Ali and Sher Ali thus acknowledge that the family of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is their "Ustad Gharana" or "Teacher House", a term imbued with veneration among musician circles in Pakistan and North India. Mehr Ali was taught by Muhammad Ali Fareedi, an ordained Sufi qawwal of the shrine of the 13th century Sufi, Baba Farid. Their family is a devoti of Sufis like Baba Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain and Baba Jyoti Shah. Mehr Ali was thus trained in Sufi philosophy, poetry, texts and rituals. All qawwals must have a deep knowledge of Sufi poetic texts. In practice, this often means sacrificing musical quality to retain purity of text. Mehr and Sher are qawwals who have achieved the rare combination of both musical quality and authentic text rendition: Sher is known for his ability to understand the importance of rhythm (lai-kari) and render classical modes in a strong voice, while Mehr's heart-rending high-pitched voice strikes the heart (zarb-ul-qalb) when the poetry contains words of entreaty or sorrow. The group feels that their music ... |
