The last prophet [sound recording]

Description: Qawwali singers at all levels perform a sophisticated and ecstatic form of devotion. The word ‘qawwali’ means literally ‘utterance’ and the ‘qawwal’ meaning a wise or philosophical utterance, is the voice or mouthpiece of divine power. The strength of the qawwal is his power to convey a mystic religious message by capturing the audience and heightening their consciousness in order to make them more receptive to the content of the message. The aim of transporting the audience to another state of mind (‘hal’) is to bring them to a level of enlightenment or inner knowledge (‘marifat’). Musically there is a tension between the rhythmical repetition of repeated lines of the chorus and the sudden, spontaneously improvised passages. Traditional and well-known themes are given new significance as the qawwal plays with the meanings of words and implies new metaphors, thus revealing the message in a fresh context. Sometimes a singer repeats a phrase or sentence, indicating not only the obvious and then the hidden context, but repeats it over and over again until all meaning is exhausted and, mantra-like, it attains a pureity of form that transcends linguistic barriers. -- from publisher

Tracks:
Maki Madni
Sahib Teri Bandi
Ganj-E-Shakar
Sochan Dongian

FY1999 /