Faiz Ali Faiz-Faiz Ali Faiz, Arles 2004

Faiz Ali Faiz, Arles 2004

In July 2004, Faiz joined forces with leading flamenco artists Miguel Poveda, Duquende and virtuoso guitarist Chicuelo in an astounding concert in the French town of Arles. The convergence between qawwali and flamenco musics finds its roots in the north Indian region of Rajastan. After the concert, we talked to Faiz and Martina Catella. She is an ethnomusicologist and the artistic director of both this project and Accord Croisés, the Paris label that brought out Faiz’s 2004 homage to Nusrat. The words of Faiz are translated by Saida Hedere.

Martina Catella explains the meeting points, common emotions and exchanges between these masters of flamenco and qawwali musics. This dialogue is rooted in the open nature of the sufi style Faiz practices

The Arles concert was the second time Faiz performed with the flamenco artists. He believes this is only the beginning of this exchange between the Pakistani and the Spaniard musicians

Faiz is the latest in a long line of qawwali singers in his family. Yet he owes a spiritual debt to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who still teaches him “in (his) dreams”

Catella underlines the prevailing importance of qawwali music in contemporary Pakistan. Nevertheless, there are risks for singers like Faiz in sharing this artform with western audiences

Daniel Brown

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