The Holy Falooda
I take your point - and i agree that Rabbi`s music (which i find very interesting myself!) is exactly the reinterpretation of our heritage that should be going on. I`m certainly not against globalization per se, and i think just taking position on the debate washes away so much of the nuance that must, of necessity be considered when we think about how our past should be celebrated and indeed incorporated into our present.
But my issue comes with the fact that we seem to think of imported culture, or as i would argue, the superficial veneer of imported culture to be superior (and thus worthy of subsuming) our own heritage. When it comes to globalization, we dont want to take up the liberal, pluralistic values of the `west` for example--which should be something we learn-- even though i think it was something very much a part of our own traditions; those we remain so oblivious to.
And there i think lies the issue- the desecration of Bulle shah`s ideology is really driven by a blind apathy, which is worrying and ultimately a shame.

The art of Qawwali #6

Agreed. some movie qawwalis are alright, as songs and indeed i do rather like ishq ishq - hence the caveat.

#7

well snake, i think some of Nusrats earlier renditions are birlliant, he had a very forceful and mellifulous (sp) style, that lent it self particularly well to punjabi kafis, like those of bulleh shah, (and the more rarely sung) madhu lal shah hussain. The recording in paris especially comes to mind, which i think was around the early 90s when nusrat was at his best.
so yeah, i think he had great talent and some of his proper qawwalis remain my favourites.

The art of Qawwali Thats a fair critisim, and i accept it - my articles can be a little `extravangant`
however, the point i was trying to make was that while most participants do indeed nowadays do it for the fun - it wasnt always like that, that it was a far more poignant experiance, something that it is now loosing, slowly becoming meaningless.

1) dont quite get the gist of what you are saying.. how would that be be different from any other form of music then?

2) i think movie qawwalis (with mabye an exception here or there) was the beginning of the slippery slope to qawwali `lite`, which is good in that it probably allowed it to still prosper, but only after it was rather badly disfigured. Puritans like myself would probably call this move towards mass appeal a diaster, but i can see how this is really a matter of prespective. Meekal hassan had some interesting comments on contemporary take up of classical music after dissapointing sales of his first album (sampooran), but more on that later.. gotta run.