Hamza Akram Qawwal & Brothers: Sufi Songs of Pakistan (RBA)

“Sufi Songs of Pakistan” comes to Roulette as a live classical program centered on qawwali, the devotional music shaped by South Asian Sufi poetry and communal listening. Featured performers Hamza Akram Qawwal & Brothers, with Hamza Akram Qawwal, work within a lineage where lead voice, chorus, and handclaps build repeating phrases into sustained intensity. In New York City, qawwali has long served as a bridge between immigrant memory and downtown presenting spaces, even when specific premiere histories are rarely documented. One striking element is how the form turns repetition into structure rather than ornament.