Qawwali
Qawwali (Punjabi: , ; Urdu: ; Hindi: क़व्वाली ; Bengali: কাওয়ালি ()) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontinent, and notably popular in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan; in Hyderabad, Delhi and other parts of India, especially North India; as well as the Dhaka and Chittagong Divisions of Bangladesh. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it gained mainstream popularity and an international audience in late 20th century. Qawwali music received international exposure through the work of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Aziz Mian and Sabri Brothers largely due to several releases on the  Real World label, followed by live appearances at WOMAD festivals. Other famous Qawwali singers include Fareed Ayyaz & Abu Muhammad, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Badar Miandad, Rizwan & Moazzam Duo, Qutbi Brothers, the late Amjad Sabri, Wadali Brothers, Nizami Bandhu, Bahauddin Qutbuddin, among others. Most modern Qawwali singers including Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Fareed Ayyaz & Abu Muhammad belong to the famed 'Qawwal Bachon ka Gharana' school of Qawwali, which was based in Delhi before 1947 and migrated to Pakistan. Definition. "Qawl" () is an "utterance (of the prophet)", Qawwāl is someone who often repeats (sings) a Qaul, Qawwāli is what a  Qawwāl sings. Origins. Delhi's Sufi saint Amir Khusrow of the Chisti order of Sufis is credited with fusing the Persian, Arabic, Turkish, and Indian traditions in the late 13th century in India to create Qawwali as we know it today. The word "Sama" is often still used in Central Asia and Turkey to refer to forms very similar to Qawwali, and in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the formal name used for a session of Qawwali is "Mehfil-e-Sama". Originally, musical instrument use in Qawwali was prohibited. The following conditions were initially placed on Qawwali: Moreover, such Sufi Saints , such as Nizamuddin Auliya, the teacher of the famous Sufi singer, Amir Khusrow, were quite blunt about the prohibition: Eventually however, musical instrument use found its way into Qawwali and modern performers of musical Qawwali will justify their use of instruments by saying that the Sufi Saints do not stop them when they use them near their shrines. Instruments such as Harmoniums, tabla and dholak are now common in many Qawwali parties. Song content. The songs which constitute the qawwali repertoire are primarily in Persian, Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi. There are some in Persian from the Mughal era, and a  smattering in Saraiki and dialects of north India like Braj Bhasha and Awadhi. There is also qawwali in some regional languages but the regional language tradition is relatively obscure. Also, the sound of the regional language qawwali can be totally different from that of mainstream qawwali. This is certainly true of Chhote Babu Qawwal, whose style of singing is much closer to the Bengali Baul music than to the qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, for example. The poetry is implicitly understood to be spiritual in its meaning, even though the lyrics can sometimes sound wildly secular, or outright hedonistic . The central themes of qawwali are love, devotion and longing (of man for the Divine). Qawwalis are classified by their content into several categories: Composition of a qawwali party. A group of qawwali musicians, called a "party" (or Humnawa in Urdu), typically consists of eight or nine men including a lead singer, one or two side singers, one or two harmoniums (which may be played by the lead singer, side singer or someone else), and percussion. If there is only one percussionist, he plays the tabla and dholak, usually the tabla with the dominant hand and the dholak with the  other one (i.e. a left-handed percussionist would play the tabla with his left hand). Often there will be two percussionists, in which case one might play the tabla and the other the dholak. There is also a chorus of four or five men who repeat key verses, and who aid percussion by hand-clapping. The performers sit cross-legged on the ground in two rows — the lead singer, side singers and harmonium players in the front row, and the chorus and percussionists in the back row. Before the fairly recent introduction of the harmonium, qawwalis were usually accompanied by  the sarangi. The sarangi had to be retuned between songs; the harmonium didn't, and was soon preferred. Women used to be excluded from traditional Muslim music, since they are traditionally prohibited from singing in the presence of men. These traditions have changed, however, as is evident by the popularity (and acceptance) of female singers such as Abida Parveen. However, qawwali has remained an exclusively male business. There are still no mainstream female qawwals. Although "kafi" singer Abida Parveen has increasingly incorporated qawwali techniques into her performances, she is still not considered a qawwali singer. Musical structure of Qawwali. Qawwalis  are usually between 15 and 30 minutes long. However, the longest recorded Qawwali is (Yeh Bazm-e-Saqi e Kausar Mein Paee Jati hai) By Ustad Rasheed Ahmed Fareedi Qawwal which is more than 120 minutes (2 Hours), recorded back in between 1975~1980. Also the another commercially released qawwali runs slightly over 115 minutes (Hashr Ke Roz Yeh Poochhunga by Aziz Mian Qawwal). The qawwali maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has at least two songs that are more than 60 minutes long. Qawwalis tend to begin gently and build steadily to a very high energy level in order to induce  hypnotic states both among the musicians and within the audience. Almost all Qawwalis are based on a Raga from the Hindustani classical music tradition. Songs are usually arranged as follows: The singing style of qawwali is different from Western singing styles in many ways. For example, in words beginning with an "m", Western singers are apt to stress the vowel following the "m" rather than the "m" itself, whereas in qawwali, the "m" will usually be held, producing a muted tone. Also in qawwali, there is no distinction between what is known as the chest voice and the head voice  (the different areas that sound will resonate in depending on the frequency sung). Rather, qawwals sing very loudly and forcefully, which allows them to extend their chest voice to much higher frequencies than those used in Western singing, even though this usually causes a more noisy or strained sound than would be acceptable in the West.