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The Qawwals & The Fakir

This is an outtake from an unreleased recording, made last February in Rajasthan - a site-specific project made for the Maharajah of Rajasthan, where we got invited to document and then present a live performance with the Qawwal singers from Ajmer - an old tradition of Sufi chants that you trace more easily in Pakistan (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan etc...).What I remember deeply were the reactions of the 'a-bit-too-Indian-elite' crowd at the event (ever seen the opening sequence of the extraordinary 'Phantom India' by Louis Malle? it's all there)- the princess especially was shocked we showed such images to her guests, while the leader of the Sufi shrine was not too happy with the Qawwals being associated with the Fakirs, usually seen as hobos or vagabonds in the spiritual circles. But actually the musicians themselves, this family of Qawwal, loved that encounter - they were the first ones to be open to show the sequence and didn't have any problems to be associated with this caste of street performers - I suppose they didn't forget their own roots at least...

  • Vincent Moon