David Dalle
Thursday April 3rd, 2025 with David Dalle
Spiritual ecstasy with new Qawwali from Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan; Hassidic nigunim from Montreal's Siach Hasadeh; Persian Flamenco with Canada's Farnaz Ohadi

For today's program, I will be playing a long set, set up as a huge arc moving through many styles, but all intensely spiritual. Starting and ending with a piece from the new album "At the Feet of the Beloved" by Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali. This group is led by brothers Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan. They have an impeccable pedigree, being nephews of the incomparable Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Their father was Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan, who was deputy leader of Nusrat's group for more than a decade. He died in 1996, just a year before Nusrat. They want to continue the legacy of their father and uncle, however, they find that there are too many groups and singers in Pakistan just trying to copy Nusrat and sing his songs. They think it's important to continue the legacy by introducing new songs and compositions. That's why only one of the four pieces on the new album is from Nusrat's repertoire. This album is a superb Qawwali album, as good as Qawwali can be...without Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I must admit, I have never heard any other musical tradition where a single artist has transcended the artform so spectacularly. We will hear a lot of other music in between the Qawwali, including a new album from Montreal based Siach Hasadeh. Their new album features instrumental improvisations on Hasidic nigunim, which are wordless melodies from the European Jewish mystical tradition. In Hasidism, they are normally sung a cappella and play a similar ecstatic role as music in Sufi traditions. Also, another new album is "Breath" from Farnaz Ohadi, which fuses Flamenco music with songs sung in Farsi.