Umsiyat series performer Faiz Ali Faiz: ‘More than where you perform, it’s about the audience that you perform for’

Faiz Ali Faiz will perform with Spanish flamenco guitarist Chicuelo as part of the Umsiyat series at Mushrif Park.

Faiz Ali Faiz, right, will be performing with Spanish flamenco guitarist Chicuelo in Abu Dhabi. Courtesy TCA Abu Dhabi

Two-time BBC Radio 3 World Music Award nominee Faiz Ali Faiz is a seventh-generation classical qawwali musician whose roots lie in a small town in Pakistan. On Wednesday, January 27, as part of Abu Dhabi’s Umsiyat series, Faiz will perform a fusion duet with Spanish flamenco guitarist Chicuelo in the green spaces of Mushrif Park.

A form of Sufi devotional music, qawwali was brought into the global limelight by the late maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who took this 700-year-old local musical form and elevated it worldwide through collaborations with other musical forms. He died in 1997, but left behind a legacy that is carried on by others, including Faiz.

Though the 53-year-old singer did nit study directly under Khan, he draws a lot of inspiration from him and has often been referred to as the maestro’s torchbearer.

“This is both an honour and a huge responsibility,” says Faiz, who formed his own qawwali group in 1978. “When people compare you to such a huge icon, there are a lot of expectations you have to measure up to. I never got the chance to study under him, but I have seen him perform many times, and several times even had the honour of performing on the same stage as him, right before he did.”

Faiz incorporates some of Khan’s most popular qawwali pieces within his own performances, and reveals that something similar is in store for the Umsiyat concert.

"Our work is such that it depends greatly on the response of the audience. A lot of it is extempore and flows in the same direction as the audience's mood," adds Faiz. "We do go on stage with some selections in hand, and I have in my list for Umsiyat some work by Baba Bulleh Shah and by some other Sufi greats. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's Allah Hu is there, too. The rest, I will adjust."

Faiz, who has taken his music around the world, cannot choose a favourite city.

“More than where you perform, it’s about the audience that you perform for, and the effort and love that you put into your own performance,” says Faiz.

“Whenever I have performed with love, I have gotten love back from the audience, and that has been a great place to perform. Whether the people speak our language or not is entirely irrelevant. All that matters is that we touch their hearts with our music.

“But for me, it is more than just music,” he adds. “It is almost a form of worship. Sufi music incorporates the words of Sufi poets. These poets talk about love towards God, towards the prophets and towards fellow human beings. This is the ethos that we present when we perform qawwali. This is what it makes it so much more than just music.”

The singer says he draws inspiration from all forms of world music.

“For me, all kinds of music is beautiful,” he says. “It is an international language that transcends barriers. Everywhere I travel to perform, I try to listen to the music of that country with an open heart and an open mind, and that experience is never wasted. I draw inspiration from all of it.”

He staunchly believes that family legacy – or the lack of it – should not be the deciding factor for a musician. “Family legacy is not a prerequisite for any kind of music,” says Faiz.

“Whoever pursues music with a good heart and with dedication, will reap the rewards. Music is no one’s sole legacy or property. Everybody has a right to it.”

• Faiz Ali Faiz will perform at Mushrif Park on Wednesday, January 27, as part of the Umsiyat concert series. Tickets cost from Dh50 to Dh200 and can be bought at ticketmaster.ae. Umsiyat is part of the annual Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority music programme and will be on until March