Soaked in music of mystics

SD Sharma 

Chandigarh, October 20

The three-day long ‘Qawwali Utsav’, organised by the North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala, under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, went off to a  grandiose start with soulful presentations of Qawwali’s by acclaimed duo of Nizami Brother Ustads Ghulam Sabir Nizami and Ghulam Waris Nizami with nine accomplished artistes at Tagore Theatre on Saturday. 

Supported by four young trained voices and orchestra, the Ustads opened up with mystic Saint Kabir’s didactic Sufi composition ‘Mann lagao yaar faqiri mein’ replete with wisdom and moral ethics before a fast divinely romantic number ‘Mere banna hariyala hai’ in laudation of the Almighty Allah and Lord Krishna with reverence. 

After the boisterous ‘Chhap tilak sab chheeni’, immortalised by Amir Khusro, the duo presented Punjabi Sufi qawwali ‘Nitt khair mangan’ by Baba Bulleh Shah.

After Amir Khusro number, they concluded the captivating programme with a boisterous ‘Dama dam mast kalandar’. 

Punita Bawa anchored the programme. With felicitous use of soothing couplets and verses by other poets, proper diction, rendition of soothing couplets with entrancing ‘Andaz-e-bayan’ the Nizami brothers captivated the large audience. 

North Zone Cultural CentreSaubhagya Vardhan and CSNA Chairman Kamal Arora blessed the artistes.