Qawwali’s voyage from royal courts to the silver screen

LUCKNOW: Have you ever wondered how qawwali transcended years of cultural appropriation and still finds relevance in mainstream art and cinema? The question was among the several answered about qawwali in an online session curated by Kathak doyen and Lucknow native Manjari Chaturrvedi on Saturday evening.
During the event, faculty member of Jamia Millia Islamia Danish Iqbal talked about qawwali and its modern-commercial avatar.In another session, founder of South Asian Alliance for Literature, Art & Culture, Saif Mahmood talked about the romance between Urdu poetry and qawwali.
“Qawwali as a tradition came to Delhi following its invasion by Mongol rulers, when several artists came to the walled city. Back then, poets were dependent on singers who in turn would fall back on musicians. Poetry recitation was uncommon,” said Iqbal.
“At that time, qawwali as an art form was restricted to royal courts and involved playing of elaborate musical instruments. The other version — Khanqahi qawwali — didn’t have music, only claps. Now, we have around 30 varieties of qawwali like Marathi, Dalit qawwali and South Indian among others. The art evolved with commercialisation of the music inductry,” he added.
Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi said that a few years ago she had heard a qawwali written for politician Mulayam Singh Yadav, which was commissioned during polls.
Mahmood said, “Qawwali took Urdu poetry out of the ghetto of university departments and poets. People could remember Urdu poetry and understand the language better because of qawwali.”
“The first film to feature a qawwali was “Zeenat” in 1945. Sahir Ludhianvi and Shakeel Badayuni wrote one for “Mughal-e-Azam” in 1960 and Kaifi Azmi for “Garam Hawa” in 1973. These films took the art from royal courts to our homes while popularising ‘filmy’ qawwali,” he said.