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One of the kingdom’s popular performers is paying homage to a great Qawwali musician and family from Pakistan as well as his late father through his first solo song.
Khalil Quraishi, one of the Hotboxgroove band leaders who is currently serving in the US Navy as operations lead for entertainment on the base in Bahrain, who goes by artist name Quraishi, will be debuting in In Your Light, featuring Ustad Azam Bakhshi on Thursday for all to enjoy.
“I want this song to be a crossover bridge between the Middle East and Pakistan, India and the subcontinent region,” Khalil told GulfWeekly.
“It will be released by the Karachi-based record label ‘A for Aleph Records’, that also boasts indie bands in the country including Takatak, Malang Party, Junaid Khan, co-VEN, Wajiha Naqvi, Irfan Ali Taj, Shariq Lalani, Ali Suhail and many others.”
Khalil and the label came together to preserve the legacy of Ustad Azam Bakhshi, the father of the Bakhshi Brothers, known to be one of the masters of Qawwali, a form of devotional music that expresses the mystical Sufi practice of Islam in South Asia, and Eastern classical music in the subcontinent.
The three-minute 13 second song, which Khalil describes as ‘psychedelic world fusion’, was inspired from his trip to northern Pakistan in 2019 where he learned about the legendary Qawwali singer.
“During my stay in Karachi, before setting out on my journey to the mountains, I met Iram whom you can hear on this track as a female student repeating after Ustad Azam Bakhshi, learning the pakar of Raag Barwa,” he said. Raag Barwa is a rarely heard ancient Hindustani classical raga that is similar to Raag desi.
“Iram and I struck a conversation on music and she mentioned that she was, at the time, involved in taking classical vocal lessons,” explained Khalil who is Bahraini with Pakistani roots. “I asked her if I could hear her sessions and that is when she gave me the phone recording sample that you can hear in my song.
“I received the sample and really enjoyed the wisdom and purity of a teacher and student relationship musically. I continued on my journey up north and back. I sat on this sample for about four years and forgot about it.”
In 2023, as he casually went over the sample while reviewing footage of his journey, he began reminiscing over his trip which he took to reset himself after the passing of his father Abdul Qadir Quraishi.
“Next thing I knew, I ended up playing instruments for the sample as well as producing and mixing it,” the Riffa resident said.
“I knew there was something about this track. At the time, I had no information on who the Ustad was in the audio clip. I reached out to Iram to get that information and informed her that I had turned that experience and memory into a song.
“That is when I came to find out that Ustad Azam Bakhshi had passed away the year after I received the sample. Iram asked me to reach out to the Bakhshi family as well and so I did.”
Khalil contacted Bilal Bakhshi, son of the teacher who had passed away.
“He said to me ‘this is my father’s voice on the track’ and asked ‘how did you receive this sample?’, shared Khalil.
“I could tell the emotions Bilal was feeling and I gave him the story on how I got it.
“He was very generous in allowing me to use this sample and offered that if I ever needed anything related to a collaboration in the future, he and the Bakhshi Brothers would be honoured to do so.
“This validated and blessed my mission.
“The song is a tribute to Ustad Azam Bakhshi (may he forever rest in peace) from the esteemed Bakhshi family and son of the legendary Ustad Bakhshi Salamat Qawwal. The family belongs to the lineage of Qawwals. This debut is also dedicated to my father.”
Khalil is also involved in three other music projects – Posthypnotik, Native Tourists and Habitat.
For details, follow @khalil_qureshi on Instagram.
