Sufi rock or Sufi folk rock is a subgenre of
rock music
Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
that combines rock with classical Islamic
Sufi music
Sufi music refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, inspired by the works of Sufi poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, Amir Khusrow, and Khwaja Ghulam Farid.
Qawwali is the best-known form of Sufi music and is most commonly found in ...
traditions. It emerged in the early 1990s and became widely popular in the late 1990s in
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
and
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. The term "Sufi rock" was coined in 1993 by writer
Nadeem F. Paracha to define the Pakistani band
Junoon, who pioneered the process of fusing conventional
rock music
Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...
with folk
Sufi music
Sufi music refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, inspired by the works of Sufi poets like Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah, Amir Khusrow, and Khwaja Ghulam Farid.
Qawwali is the best-known form of Sufi music and is most commonly found in ...
and imagery.
The Pluralism Project
at Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
: Salman Ahmed Brings Sufi-Rock, Political Message to Harvard (Massachusetts)
History
It is mostly based on the poetry of famous sufi poets such as Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...
, Hafez
(), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz,
“Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyri ...
, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai
Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (; 1689/1690 – 21 December 1752), commonly known by the honorifics ''Lakhino Latif'', ''Latif Ghot'', ''Bhittai'', and ''Bhit Jo Shah'', was a Sindhi Sufi mystic and poet from Pakistan, widely considered to be the ...
, Bulleh Shah
Sayyid Abdullāh Shāh Qādrī (; ), popularly known as Baba Bulleh Shah and vocatively as Bulleya, was a Punjabi revolutionary philosopher, reformer and Chishti Sufi poet, regarded the 'Father of Punjabi Enlightenment'; and one of the g ...
, Waris Shah
Pir Waris Shah ( ; 1722 1798) was an 18th-century Punjabi Muslims, Punjabi Muslim Sufi poet of the Chishti order, known popularly for his contribution to Punjabi literature.
He is primarily known as the author of the ''Heer Ranjha'' love ...
and even Kabir
Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...
and is mostly sung in languages such as Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
, Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
, Punjabi, Sindhi, Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and Turkish.
See also
*Pakistani rock
Pakistani rock is a variety of rock music that is largely produced in Pakistan. Pakistani rock incorporates elements of both British– American rock and Pakistani classical music.
Since the 1980s, Pakistani rock has had its own distinctive e ...
*Culture of India
Indian culture is the cultural heritage, heritage of social norms and history of science and technology on the Indian subcontinent, technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse nation of India, pert ...
*Music of Pakistan
The Music of Pakistan () is a fusion of Turco-Persian tradition, Turko-Persian, Arab world, Arab, North India, North Indian, and contemporary Western influences, creating a distinct musical tradition often referred to as "Pakistani Music." The ge ...
*Music of India
Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk, rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed over several ...
*Pakistani hip hop
Pakistani hip hop is a music genre in Pakistan, influenced heavily from merging American hip hop style beats with Pakistani poetry. The genre was initially dominated in English and Punjabi, but in recent years has expanded to Urdu, Sind ...
*Culture of Pakistan
The culture of Pakistan () lies at the intersection of Turko-Persian, Arab, and North Indian cultural traditions. Over centuries, the region has developed a distinct cultural identity, shaped by a fusion of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and No ...
* Taqwacore
References
External links
The New Sufiana – ''Indian Express''
{{India topics
Fusion music genres
Pakistani styles of music
Indian styles of music
Rock music genres
Sufi music
Sufism in Pakistan
Sufism in India
Pakistani rock music