New York Sufi Music Festival 2010 - Sounds of Peace
Union Square Park open its gates to the sound of tambourines, reed flutes, harmoniums and guitars as more than a dozen Pakistani musicians take to the stage to launch the first annual New York Sufi Music Festival 2010.
Conceived by the Pakistani Peace Builders, an independent cultural-diplomacy campaign, and presented in association with Asia Society and the Rubin Museum, the festival aims to repair Pakistan's image in the West through music that insists on the shared humanistic values of peace and plurality.
Musicians from all four of Pakistan's very different provinces will combine regional, contemporary and ancient influences to create music featuring the lyrics of Sufi poetry. An all star group of musicians from Pakistan's key provinces perform for three hours including:
- Pakistan's Living Legend Abida Parveen
- Zeb and Haniya, of the famed Coke Studio
- Akhtar Chanal Zehri from Balochistan
- Soung Faqirs from the Sachal Sarmast Shrine in Sindh
- Rafaqat Ali Khan representing the Shaam Chaurasi Gharana in Punjab
- Mekaal Hasan Band, Pakistan's most critically acclaimed contemporary band
- Abid Hussain and Abdul Rasheed, dhol virtuosos
- Muhammad Ahmed, matka (clay pot) percussionist
- Muhammad Talib and Riaz Hussain, damboori virtuosos
- Sachoo Khan, Sarangi/Surinda virtuoso
- Ghous Bux, Flute/Alghoza virtuoso
- Tari Khan, Tabla virtuoso
