The qawwali, as a performance, has gone through tremendous changes. For centuries, it languished as a minor form, tucked away somewhere in the rituals that were associated with sufi shrines, particularly those of the Chishtiya order. Qawwali was almost non-existent in the areas that later became Pakistan. It had originated, as the legend goes, in the Delhi area under the patronage of Nizamuddin Aulia. The shagirds of Amir Khusro, such as Mian Samit, are said to be the ones who put it in practice so that it became a regular feature of the activities of the shrine. It then spread to other shrines where the sufi orders were not too literal in their practice of religion and became a permanent feature on Thursdays and Fridays.

However, it was still limited to the shrines and there was no concept of it being pulled out of its ritualistic format and performed independently. That was considered a violation of the sanctity assigned to it and a sacrilege of sorts: a betrayal of the musical response that was allied strictly to the evocation of emotions channelized on the dictates of tariqat.

It may have existed side by side with the dhrupad that was the popular choice for the music performed at the courts. For more than five hundred years, in various courts spanning the sub-continent, the dhrupadias reigned supreme. They included some of the legendry vocalists: Swami Haridas, Baiju Bawara, Tansen, Man Toomar, Sur Das, Ram Das and Gopal Naik. All these dhrupadias were considered to have been unmatched. The qawwali that was linked to the shrine and bound by its quasi-religious sensibility was seen to be limited in scope.

Many of the kheyal practitioners were said to be Qawwal Bachchas. They included Baray Muhammed Khan and Tanrus Khan. They were made to pull out of their hereditary vocation to be kheyalias because of their great talent and the greater prestige assigned to the kheyal. So, in the last two hundred years, one does not hear of any outstanding qawwal, but many kheyalias with their origins in the Qawwal Bachchas.

Qawwali was not considered then to be an autonomous form of art. Therefore, it was placed at a lower level in the hierarchy of genres. Furthermore, it was frowned upon by the more orthodox and almost labelled as heretical. Since there was no formal sanction in the mainstream religious order, music was considered a deviation that was castigated and riled against, at best ignored and not considered worthy of wasting one’s breath on. So, all musical forms even the quasi-religious ones were seen as aberrations and deviations from the purity of the religious forms as prescribed.

A battle has raged within the religious ambit of the role of the sufis and their efforts to stretch a narrowly defined religious code. This running battle has been a constant feature of Islam in its fourteen hundred year history.

In our culture, a trend later started to have a qawwali performance as a concert item. As it gained popularity, many included the qawwali performance in their wedding receptions to entertain the guests. Naturally, the emphasis on it being a concert item, rather than being a musical performance in service of a religious cause changed the form of music particularly in the kalam that was being rendered. During the Muslim rule, when Persian was understood by most people, the bulk of the kalam was in Persian.

The transition was an unnoticed one as the qawwal switched from Khusro to Jami, to Hafiz then Rumi and Faizi – some of them Iranian poets and some Indian. Writing in Farsi did not raise eyebrows in India. Some Arabic text signalled the initiation of the concert; later some kalam in the local dialects was presented. However, with the qawwali becoming a concert item, especially after the emergence of Pakistan, the Persian kalam, was sung less as it was understood less. Farsi went out of our discourse after independence at a greater speed than it had during the colonial period.

The vernacular languages now formed the major chunk of the kalam that was sung. It all started with Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa and the kalam of some sufi poets, the Punjabi sufis in particular. Some of the the poets were already well known; others became popular only after their kalam was rendered by some qawwals as it was easily understood and played around on high sentimentalism.

Nowadays, the challenge is not bringing about a fusion of the sounds that may be more international in character and those that are local or limited to the region, but really grappling with the new sounds that are a product of the technological revolution taking place. It is all pervasive and music cannot say aloof from it, even if it tried.

Nusrat Fateh Ali was hailed greatly not only because he was a qawwal with a lineage, but also because he opened the more insular forms to outside musical influences, needless to say from the West. He was also promoted as such by some of the big names that were managing the music industry. This helped him achieve a stardom that was truly international in its scope and essence. His death anniversary marked on August 16.

The author is a culture critic based in Lahore