The following is a list of notable harmonium players.
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi devotional music. Often called the "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali", he is considered by The New York Times to be the greatest qawwali singer of his generation. He was described as the fourth greatest singer of all time by LA Weekly in 2016. He was known for his vocal abilities and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. Khan is widely credited with introducing qawwali music to international audiences. He was also a master in Hindustani classical music.
The Music of Pakistan includes diverse elements ranging from music from various parts of South Asia as well as Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and modern-day Western popular music influences. With these multiple influences, a distinctive Pakistani music has emerged.
Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in South Asia. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has also gained mainstream popularity and an international audience as of the late 20th century.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a Pakistani singer, primarily Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the most popular and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, son of Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan and grandson of Qawwali singer Fateh Ali Khan. In addition to Qawwali, he also performs ghazals and other light music. He is also well-known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema and the Pakistan film industry.
Chhaap Tilak Sab Chheeni, is a Ghazal written and composed by Amir Khusro, a 14th-century Sufi mystic, in popular Western Indian language Braj Bhasha. Due to the resonance of its melody and mystical lyrics, it is frequently heard in Qawwali concerts across Indian Subcontinent. Chaapp Tilak Sab Chheeni is considered as Amir Khusru‘s most known Kalam which is basically a penned version of his imagination of devotion and the joy of oneness with the eternal one. This poetry is an epic example where an inherent middle eastern art form gets entangled with the Indic philology, custom and art a unique twist between the two artforms. This kind of devotion is rarely seen in Islamic ghazals and qawwalis preceding it. This poetry is a great example of the role both cultures played to create this Ghazal and Qawwali which has a unique essence combining both Indic and Islamic culture which inherently created a new unique art form which contributed to the early beginnings of the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb culture to be developed.
Aaj Rang Hai also known as Rang or Rung (transl. Color) is a Qawwali written by the 13th-century Sufi poet, Amir Khusrau in Hindavi and Braj Bhasha dialects. In the song, Khusrau describes to his mother his ecstasy upon finding his murshid in the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. The song is a staple of most Qawwali sessions in North India and Pakistan, especially in the Chishti shrines of Delhi. It is traditionally sung as a closing piece at the end of a Qawwali session.
Dama Dam Mast Qalandar is a spiritual Sufi qawwali written in the honour of the most revered Sufi saint of Sindh, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177–1274) of Sehwan Sharif. The origins of the poem is unknown, since no recordings or written documents exist mentioning it prior to the 1950s. However, legends around the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan suggest that the original poem was initially written by the 13th-century Sufi poet Amir Khusrow, then further modified by Bulleh Shah in the 18th century. The poem includes a reference to the town of Sehwan, and the word "Lal" can refer to Lal Shahbaz Qalandar as a young man, his legendary ruby glow, or his red dress. Bulleh Shah gave an entirely different color to the qawwali, adding verses in praises of Shahbaz Qalandar and giving it a large tint of Sindhi culture. It also venerates Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad.
Mera Piya Ghar Aaya is a Punjabi Sufi poem written by noted 18th-century Sufi saint and poet Baba Bulleh Shah. He composed this poem at the return of his spiritual guide Shah Inayat Qadiri. The song is part of most of the Qawwali performances. It is one of the best known songs of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and part of his album, Qawwali: The Essential Collection.
Shani Arshad is a Pakistani film music director, songwriter, TV jingle composer, playback singer and record producer. He has composed music for various television serials and films including Actor in Law, Na Maloom Afraad, Load Wedding, Teefa in Trouble, and The Donkey King. Shani Arshad, as a music composer, has made 16 super hit films background score and 18 television Soundtracks, also he has directed 11 musical compositions in Coke Studio (Pakistan). Shani Arshad also made orchestral music with Hungarian orchestra "Budapest Film Orchestra" for the film The Donkey King. He earned wider recognition for composing the OST of the popular Pakistani drama serial Tere Bin (Kya Hoti Hai Bewafai)
Joi Bangla is an EP by Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, issued in August 1971 on Apple Records. The recording was produced by George Harrison and its release marked the first in a series of occasional collaborations between the two musicians that lasted until the Chants of India album in 1997. Shankar recorded the EP in Los Angeles, to help raise international awareness of the plight faced by refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War, in advance of his and Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows at Madison Square Garden, New York. Side one of the disc consists of two vocal compositions sung in Bengali, of which the title track was a message of unity to the newly independent nation, formerly known as East Pakistan. The third selection is a duet by Shankar and sarodya Ali Akbar Khan, supported by Alla Rakha on tabla, a performance that presaged their opening set at the Concert for Bangladesh.
The Asian Music Circle was an organisation founded in London, England, in 1946, that promoted Indian and other Asian styles of music, dance and culture in the West. The AMC is credited with having facilitated the assimilation of the Indian subcontinent's artistic traditions into mainstream British culture. Founded by Indian writer and former political activist Ayana Angadi and his English wife, Patricia Fell-Clarke, a painter and later a novelist, the organisation was run from their family home in the north London suburb of Finchley.
I Love Desi is a Hindi romantic comedy film directed by Pankaj Batra. Producer Rocky Daswani introduced Vedant Bali who is manager to Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Shah. Gulshan Grover, Mannat Singh, Shakti Anand, Krip Suri and Gurpreet Ghuggi are also starring in the film. The film has been shot in Canada, Thailand and India. Filmstar Akshay Kumar has helped his manager during the making of the film. I Love Desi released on 29 May 2015.
Shabab Sabri is a Bollywood playback singer
Mohammed Musa Hashmi, known by his pen name Purnam Allahabadi was an Urdu poet and lyricist, best known for his worldwide famous Qawwali Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Muhammad sung by Sabri Brothers and Tumhe Dillagi originally sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Amjad Farid (Fareed) Sabri was a Pakistani qawwal, naat khawan and a proponent of the Sufi Muslim tradition. Son of Ghulam Farid Sabri and nephew of Maqbool Ahmed Sabri of the Sabri Brothers, he emerged as one of South Asia's most prominent qawwali singers, often reciting poems written by his father and uncle. The TTP Hakimullah Mehsud group has claimed responsibility for Sabri's death, saying that they carried out the assassination "for blasphemy."
The ninth season of the Pakistani music television series Coke Studio commenced airing in Pakistan on 13 August 2016, concluded on 24 September 2016 and contained seven episodes. Season nine aired Fridays (digitally) and Saturdays (televised), on various timings and channels across the country.
"Sochta Hoon" is a ghazal-qawwali written and performed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, originally in UK 1985 Tour on 28 February at Allah Ditta Centre Birmingham. It had been popularized by him and his nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan several times in different concerts.
