Artists
Qawwals
Akhtar Sharif Arup Vāle
Pakistan
Akhtar Sharif Husain is a fourth-generation qawwal , in a succession which spreads over a century, and his group is well-known in Pakistan . Members of the Chishti Sufi brotherhood, Akhtar and his group can trace their roots back to Khwaja Barakat Ali, of the village of Ar û p in the Punjab where they still live. Every Thursday, they take part in a qawwali ceremony and sing at the shrine of their master. They are called darb â ri , that is, the official qawwals of the Data Ganj Bakhsh sanctuary (the patron saint of Lahore ), and one of the largest centres for qawwals in the world. For the past 25 years, they have also had the exclusive right to wear the sacred cloth between the concert hall and the saint’s tomb, a privilege which has only ever been given before to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Akhtar Sharif’s father, Muhammad Sharif Khan, learnt the art and music of qawwali from Fateh Ali Khan, father of the legendary Nusrat. Akhtar himself studied with one of the most important groups, Bakhshi Salamat. The tale is told that each time Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performed at his home or organised a Qawwali concert at his house, the only group to be invited to sing for his family was that of Akhtar. Akhtar Sharif is now teaching his art to his son Sarmad Husain.
The group began their career on radio and television in Pakistan in 1967, and have continued to win great acclaim. Pakistani TV has awarded them the highest possible accolade.
The group’s repertoire includes Sufi texts in Punjabi, Purbi and Persian, the qawwali liturgical languages of the Punjab . They also have a large repertoire in Urdu, as well as some rare texts in Arabic. Their favourite poetry includes texts by Baba Bullhe Shah and Khwaja Ghulam Farid, as well as the essential texts of Amir Khusraw, the creator of qawwali as we know it today.
Adam Nayyar