Songs of the Mystics: Traditional Sufi Qawwali

QAWWAL NAJMUDDIN SAIFUDDIN & GROUP

The family of Qawwal Najmuddin Saifuddin group trace their ancestry back to the 13th-century and are considered today the leading singers of the Sufi Qawwali tradition. Their songs are of thousands of years of mystic poetry, which have been passed on from generation to generation. The songs, which constitute the qawwali repertoire, are in a number of languages. Those from the classical period are in dialects of north India like Brajbhasha and Awadhi. These dialects continue to have huge influence on qawwali in other languages. There is a rich tradition in other languages like Urdu, Punjabi, Persian and Saraiki.