BY PURVI RADIA | NT BUZZ
Both the Uttar Pradesh Qawwali- ‘Haji Mohammad Ahmad Khan Warsi’ and Bangla Qawwali- ‘Gorbhanga Fakirs’ created an atmosphere of mysticism for the Qawwali Festival held recently at the Kala Academy
Sufi qawwalis glorify love, harmony and self discovery.

Qawwali is a vehicle that leads to the divine path. There are several ways to this path and one of them can be experienced at qawwali sessions where the qawwals bring alive a different facet of the divine with their singing. Qawwali praises enthusiastically the divine and is not religion-based but region-based and transcends all language barriers.  
Recently, the Goa Kala Academy hosted the qawwali traditions through the Qawwali festival organised by Banglanatak dot com. The festival showcased the groups Gorbhanga Fakirs from West Bengal and Haji Mohammad Ahmad Khan Warsi from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, which are two distinct qawwali styles.
The Bangla qawwali, which traditionally uses dhol and khol instead of the tabla, sing the qawwali while in the UP style the qawwali is read and not sung.
“It is a kind of a peace concert. Today, when society is conflict ridden, it is necessary to reach out to the youth. The Baul Fakirs of the group Gorbhanga Fakirs spread the word of peace through a five-concert tour in Europe in November. Their next trip is to Syria, another conflict ridden country, to spread brotherhood and peace,” informs the founder director of Banglanatak, Amitava Bhattacharya.
Baul and Fakir qawwals are the outcome of Chaitanya Devi’s Bhakti movement. The philosophies taught to them were of humanism more than that of religion. The conviction was that God exists in every human being. And having oneness with the God was only attained under the guidance of a guru, who builds the pathway to the divine. Wandering minstrels, they are in search of the eternal divine. Baul musicians are referred to as Hindus, who do not visit temples, and Fakirs are Sufi Muslims, who do not go to Mosque, explained Amitav, who holds an engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur.
Bangla Qawwali, which is the qawwali sung in Bengal, is a form in which women are allowed to sing the qawwali. In fact, Gorbhanga, a mid-sized village located in the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal has about 23 women performing Bangla qawwali and has been steeped in the tradition for 250 to 300 years (10-12 generations).
“In Uttar Pradesh qawwali, which is also another form of qawwali, the qawwali is read and not sung,” informs the head of the Haji Mohammad Ahmad Khan group, (UP qawwali style) Haji Mohammad Ahmad Khan Warsi. “In UP qawwali, poetry forms the core, which is then interwoven by ragas. What is sung are the ragas, thumri and bhajan. Here, in UP, qawwali is exclusively a male business. Certain rituals performed before reading qawwalis are restricted to women and thereby they partake in reading it too.”
About 130 years ago, Bangla Qawwali died down. The reason for the diminishing popularity was revealed by Amitav as lack of interest, insufficient investment and lack of audience. Research led the Fakiris to discover that their forefathers performed qawwali and thus was resurrected the old and rich tradition of Bangla qawwali. The recent performance that the Bangla Qawwals gave after its revival was in 2010 at Hazarduari, Murshidabad.
In Gorbhanga there is a famous festival that happens annually on the third weekend of January called Fakiri. Interestingly, the village is dotted with around four akras (ashrams) where earlier various qawwali groups were taught the art by their gurus and was later performed by them at the same venue. Today, at these akras is a common resource centre where people congregate to practice.
The tradition is passed guru to shishya in the typical parampara style which demands the same unconditional surrender to the guru. Bangla Qawwali represents rural environs and has not been tampered with to suit urban audiences. 
Listening to this music is like soul searching. Baul Fakirs believe singing is meditation. And it actually is! Although the lyrics are difficult to understand one is sure to get immersed in the music.
Today, Banglanatak dot com, which is a social enterprise and has its head quarters in Kolkata, has safeguarded the traditional art and culture of rural India under the flagship initiative ‘Art for Life’ (AFL). This initiative uses the traditional art and culture of rural India to generate rural livelihood and provides social inclusion. It was formed in the year 2004. There are about 3200 artistes in Kolkata with whom the AFL practices. The initiative is divided into three criteria. They are: capacity building, direct market linkage and segmentation wise market creation. The benefits that befall as part of the initiatives are documentation of the works of Baul Fakirs, health insurance, opportunity to perform abroad, exchange programmes with the international artistes.
The initiative has raised their monthly income from Rs 5 to Rs 4000 even up to Rs 35,000. Sanitation has gone up by about 200 per cent. Children are now being sent to schools. Moreover, their identity has transformed from that of an unskilled labour to that of an artiste.
The Indian Planning Commission has endorsed alternative rural development technique in West Bengal, which has benefited the people a lot.