The show also features a segment called the “Qawwali Capsules” where videos of the practitioners speaking about their performance art, lives, and their association with the spiritual art they perform are being played.
So far, the project has collected 50 photographs of qawwals from different parts of the country. “The digital documentation and archiving of Indian performance traditions bestows on them a huge amount of dignity,” she says. Some are old, some are barely past boyhood
“The self photographs we have received reveal something about the various characters of these men who are so integral to carrying on this generations-long androcentric performance tradition. The self-documentation, she adds, is also a strong statement by the qawwals about how they want to be remembered for posterity.
#HINDI QAWWALI SONGS SERIES#
“Theis photo series addresses the lack of documentation and archiving of qawwals and their lives in this country,” says Chaturvedi. “During the archiving of the qawwals when I would ask for images of legendary qawwals from small towns, there were no images, just some random passport pics or blurred images of their youth. Kejriwal, on the other hand, shifts the focus of her photo story and explores the musical tradition from the point of view of the women Qawwali performers.īesides the photo exhibition, the show also features a self-documentation initiative titled, “I am a Qawwal” as part of which the qawwali practitioners take their own selfie photos, or have friends take their photos and send them to the Qawwali Project for documentation. While Khanna takes the viewers on a pictorial journey of qawwali scenes from the important shrines of Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Hyderabad and Ajmer Quraishi’s photo story is shot in the two prominent shrines of Dewa Sharif and Safipur in Uttar Pradesh.
From the Magazine Shaheen Bagh, CAA, Farmers’ Protest: Hip-Hop Is The Voice Of Dissent In India Why I Rap: A Hip-Hop Artiste’s Journey From Bihar To Stardom Death Of Three Dalit Girls And A Story Of Pain And Humiliation Church In India Cosying Up To BJP To Protect Its Interests Diary | I Want To Fly: The Unrealised Dreams Of An Ex-Banker And MotherĪs one walks through the exhibition space, with a mellow qawwali tune playing in the backdrop, looking at images of unknown men and women engaged in an art form they love and which is perhaps their most cherished heirloom, makes the hair on your neck stand in the same way that an uninhibited qawwali performance does in a shrine.Ī group of qawwals rehearsing in a personal space, a devotee offering prayers with closed eyes as a qawwal performs next to her…a trio of musicians performing on the white marbles at the shrine of Salim Chisti, the photographs exude a sense of calm.