Sufi rock
Sufi rock | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | Rock, sufi music, (Hindustani classical music) |
Cultural origins | Early 90s, Pakistan and India |
Typical instruments | Electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals, dhol, tabla, sitar, flute, harmonium |
Regional scenes | |
Pakistan • Turkey • India |
Sufi rock is a subgenre of rock music that combines rock with classical sufi music traditions. It emerged in the early 1990s and became widely popular in the late 1990s in Pakistan and India. The term "sufi rock" was coined in 1993 by writer Nadeem F. Paracha to define the Pakistani band Junoon, who pioneered the process of fusing conventional rock music with sufi music and imagery.[1][2][3] Rabbi Shergill's Bullah Ki Jaana was one of the best examples of Sufi music admired in both India and Pakistan.
It is mostly based on the poetry of famous sufi poets such as Rumi, Hafez, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Bulleh Shah, Waris Shah and even Kabir and is mostly sung in languages such as Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Persian and Turkish.
A few artists such as Junoon,*Fuzon and Mekaal Hasan Band have achieved commercial success as well as mainstream critical recognition while some veteran sufi folk singers such as Arif Lohar and Saeen Zahoor have also dabbled in this genre.
Artists
- Asrar
- Junoon
- Fuzon
- Mekaal Hasan Band
- Zeb and Haniya
- Cat Stevens
- Rabbi Shergill
- Kailash Kher
- A. R. Rahman
- Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch
- Noori
- Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
- Javed Ali
- Arjit Singh
See also
- Pakistani rock
- Music of Pakistan
- Pakistani hip hop
- Culture of Pakistan
- Taqwacore
- Indian pop
- Indian Classical Music
References
- ↑ The Nadeem F. Paracha's Work(s) Archive
- ↑ A Rock and Roll Jihad for the Soul of Pakistan. The Huffington Post
- ↑ The Pluralism Project at Harvard University: Salman Ahmed Brings Sufi-Rock, Political Message to Harvard (Massachusetts)