Qawwali: The Sufi Music of South Asia

Date: 

Monday, October 17, 2022 - 4:30pm
STEPS 290
Qawwali: The Sufi Music of South Asia
  
Scott Kugle
Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies 
Emory University 
 
This talk will present Qawwali, the most popular style of Sufi Music in South Asia (India and Pakistan). Sufism is Islamic mysticism, and Sufi music translates Islam into love's languages through poetry and song. The talk presents original recordings of Qawwali from Prof. Kugle's fieldwork in India about the Chishti Sufi Order, along with translations of the lyrics from Hindi-Urdu, Persian and Arabic. 
 
Scott Kugle serves as Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University.  His fields of expertise include Sufism, Islamic society in South Asia, and issues of gender and sexuality.  He is the author of numerous books, including Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Corporeality and Sacred Power in Islam; When Sun Meets Moon: Eros, Ecstasy and Gender in Urdu Poetry; Sufi Meditation and Contemplation; Hajj to the Heart: Sufi Journeys Across the Indian Ocean; and The Merciful Door: Living With a Sufi Teacher in India.