Rapturous. Consider the Orchestral Qawwali Project a balm for the soul in extremely troubling and divisive times
Orchestral Qawwali Project, co-founded by self-taught composer and arranger Rushil Ranjan and vocalist Abi Sampa performed alongside the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, London Voices and the National Youth Chamber Choir to a sold out Royal Albert Hall earlier this week, despite only forming four years ago.
They have been widely hailed as transforming the Sufi art-form of Qawwali, blending the traditionally Islamic mystic genre with the Western classical tradition. With over 100 performers on stage, including some of the UK’s most celebrated Indian classical dancers (Vidya Patel, Aakash Odedra) this performance was a step up from what were already show stopping performances at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.
Sampa and Ranjan are clearly inspired by, and pay tribute to at several times throughout the night, the King of Qawwali – Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Born to a Punjabi Muslim family in Pakistan, Khan has been a towering giant in Qawwali for decades, but Sampa and Ranjan (incidentally neither of whom are Muslim) have done something more in opening up this music to a far wider audience.
Qawwali has always been known for transcending religious and ethnic differences, but Sampa and Ranjan have married musical traditions that should sound entirely incongruous together.. It’s the first time I’ve heard tabla and timpani play together on stage, the harmonium and the acoustic guitar, the performance even opens with an ethereal choral rendition of Kyrie Eleison – but what these two have achieved is seamless, and utterly mesmerising.
The songs are shorter than is traditional, closer to 10 minutes rather than Khan’s hour long performances, but Ranjan’s cleverly layered composition and Sampa’s hypnotic voice mean the gradual journey towards ecstatic crescendo that is inherent to Qawwali is retained. The night ends with the most rousing piece in OQP’s repertoire: Dam Mast Qalander, believed to have been originally written in the 13th century, later popularised by (you guessed it) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, OQP’s version had the entirety of the Royal Albert Hall on their feet.
There’s an essential vitality about Sampa and Ranjan’s music, quite apart from its themes of universal divinity and spirituality (although its unifying effects make it all the more powerfu)l. Not only are there many listeners for whom the Partition of India and Pakistan will still feel recent and painful, but the catastrophic suffering and loss of life due to ethnic and religious differences across the world make projects like this symbolically and materially crucial for our times.
Consider the Orchestral Qawwali Project a balm for the soul in extremely troubling and divisive times.