MUSIC / On Music
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Your support makes all the difference.It took the death of one of the Sabri Brothers this April to get them their London date. Who they? No need to ask if you follow the world singing scene. And when you see, you will know - it's almost impossible not to have caught them by chance on television or radio. The Sabris, a whole dynasty of them, put the art of Qawwali on the international map many years ago and were pioneers on the way to the world music circuits of today. Their tours now pack the halls and raise the roofs. Sufi in origin, Qawwali is the most rousing devotional music you could imagine, and a concert performance of it is a concentrated experience of steadily growing excitement. An Asian audience reacts frankly and physically, with the men (this is Islam]) often moved to dance in a mixture of emotion and display.
The family is now based in Karachi, where it relocated after the turmoils of the partition of India. This year's British tour has been running through May, mostly in the Midlands and the North. They decided it should go ahead, with some early dates rearranged, as a tribute to Ghulam Farid Sabri, who used to head the chorus in response to the lead singer. After the Queen Elizabeth Hall, they go on to the Bradford Mela where the atmosphere will enter an altogther different dimension from the South Bank's. But even in central London the circumstances will mean a far greater intensity than usual.
7.45pm 3 Jun, QEH, South Bank, SE1 (071-928 8800) pounds 7-pounds 15
(Photograph omitted)
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