Ghulam Farid Sabri

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Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri (1930 - April 5, 1994) was a major Qawwali singer and musician.

He was born in Kalyana, a village of the district of Rohtak in East Punjab, British India in 1930. His family's musical lineage stretches over several centuries, to the age of Mughal emperors. His family claims direct descent from Mian Tansen, the legendary musician of the court of Akbar the Great. Mehboob Baksh Ranji Ali Rang, his paternal grandfather, was a master musician of his time; Baqar Hussein Khan, his maternal grandfather, was a unique sitarist. His family belongs to the Sabriyya order of Sufism, hence the surname Sabri. Sabri was raised in Gwalior. In his youth, he wanted to turn away from the world and live in the wilderness. However, his mother's stern rebuke turned him back to his responsibilities. At the age of six, Sabri commenced his formal instruction in music under his father, Haji Inayat Sen Sabri. Ghulam Farid Sabri was instructed in North Indian classical music and Qawwali. He was also instructed in the playing of the harmonium. His first public performance was at the annual Urs festival of Hazrat Peer Mubarak Shah in Kalyana in 1946. Following the Partition of India in 1947, his family was uprooted from their native town and was transported to a refugee camp in Karachi, Pakistan. Conditions in the camp were woeful, food was scarce and expensive, and the rewards for hard work were barely enough to sustain life. Malnutrition was rife and brought with it scourges of tuberculosis and dysentery. Ghulam Farid found a job by carrying hods of bricks for the government house building or by breaking rocks to build roads. At night, almost single-handedly, he built his own house, brick by brick, to shelter his family. Eventually, he became ill. Worn out, he was told by a physician that due to the condition of his lungs, he would never again have the strength to sing. In despair, he went to his father for advice and the advice he was given was uncompromisingly tough. Every night for the next two years, he would have to sit in the middle of the camp for four to five hours making zikr. All those days he bore the scars of beatings with wood and stones thrown by his tired, sleepless neighbours and brawls he was in when they were determined to stop him; but he would not be deterred and, as time went by, his lungs grew stronger and his magnificent voice was formed. Soon, Ghulam Farid started to mix with a small group of people who appreciated Qawwali. He then joined Ustad Kallan Khan's Qawwali party. Soon after, a wealthy businessman approached him and offered him a partnership in a nightclub, yet Ghulam Farid's reply was that he only wanted to sing Qawwali, and he rejected the offer. Shortly after, in 1956, Sabri formed a Qawwali ensemble with his brother, known as The Sabri Brothers. They became widely acclaimed for their singing. Their first recording, released in 1958 under the EMI Pakistan label, was a popular hit called Mera Koi Nahin Hai. The group became the first exponents of Qawwali to the West in 1975, when it performed at New York's Carnegie Hall. Their career was marked by brotherly squabbles which led to periods of solo work by each, but they always reconciled and reunited. Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri passed away on April 5, 1994 in Liaquatabad, following a massive heart attack. He died en route to a hospital and beside him was his beloved brother, Haji Maqbool Ahmed Sabri. Due to his death, he was unable to accompany his brothers on a musical tour of England. He also died shortly after returning from Umrah. His funeral was attended by approximately 40,000 mourners. He was buried at Paposh Qabristan, in nearby Nazimabad. His humble white grave is situated near his father's grave in a peaceful courtyard. Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri was survived by his wife, five sons, three of whom are Amjad Farid Sabri, Azmat Farid Sabri, and Sarwat Farid Sabri, and six daughters.

[edit] Personality and Style

Ghulam Farid Sabri is renowned as the foremost Qawwal of his time, forever grateful for the ability to sing. He possessed a deep and powerful voice and presented the wajad energy during his performances. In live performance, the unseen attendance was often formidable and the ecstatic joy of his dedication can still be heard in his recordings. He is acknowledged as a deeply religious man, yet a warm, simple man with a great sense of humour, who lived in and for his family and friends. Shortly prior to his death, he began growing beard. Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri had been initiated into the Warsiyya order of Sufism by Amber Shah Warsi. The name bestowed upon him was Alam Shah Warsi.

Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri held residence in the heavily congested and overpopulated Pakistani suburb of Liaquatabad. At night, Ghulam Farid Sabri lay on his bed listening to the sounds of surrounding lanes and alleyways. His sleep was minimal and his night was filled with constant zikr, made using his 1000 bead tasbih. He wore this tasbih around his neck during recordings and live performances.

Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri initiated his sons into classical music at a young age. His eldest son, Amjad Farid Sabri, recalls: "The hardest part was being awoken at 4:00 AM. Most riyaz is done in Raag Bhairon and this is an early morning raag. My mother would urge our father to let us be but he would still awake us. Even if we had slept at midnight, he would get us out of bed, instruct us to make wuzu, perform tahajjud prayers, and then take out the baja. And he was correct in doing so because if a raag is rendered at the correct time, the performer himself enjoys it to the fullest".

Nancy, a student of Kathak, describes Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri: "...He was now, I guessed, in his sixties. He sat smiling, a charismatic presence, looking at the audience with half-closed eyes. He had a lovely long profile, and he might have been very handsome once. But now he was fat and coarsened with age, his teeth stained from eating paan (betel-leaf). His hair flowed down his back."