Qawali - Kabhee Abshaar Kabhee Phuaar

Attempts to do justice in words to an artistic performance are feeble at best, but I will attempt it regardless. This was the third time that I have been priveleged to listen to Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad Qawal and hamnawa in the last 1 year, and every time the experience has been more pleasureable than the last. I must commend the organizers at the Center for a superbly arranged event this time as well.

Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad have been able to combine great poetry with great singing to deliver a transportive experience to the listener. However, it is their obvious devotion to the art of Qawali itself, as well as to the poetry and the deeper meanings they are able to convey so simply and beautifully, that makes listening to them such a powerful experience. For a few hours, one is taken away to another place and time, where the realities of our prosaic existence do not intrude, and our minds are soothed by the glorious words flowing around us. And it ends all too soon and we go back to a daily existence that is made perhaps a little more bearable as we think back to the experience and the other places it took us...

I must end on a note of praise for the people of Toronto, who participated in a manner which would have made Khusrau proud...

Farid Ayaz Qawwal's 2008 Tour of Canada

Farid Ayaz qawwal, Abu Muhammad and ensemble will be performing in Canada during April 2008. Here are their tour dates and schedule:

Tour of Canada - April 2008

April 3 - 7.00 pm
Orleans Theatre, 255 Centrum Bould., Ottawa
Admission: $30 : Information: 613-692-3017, 613-692-6790

April 5 - 7.00 pm
Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, Loyola Campus, Concordia University
7141 Sherbrook St. W.
Parking: On Loyola campus
Admission: $20 (Seniors/Students), $25, $50 Tickets at www.admission.com Tel: (514) 790-1245
Information: (514) 586-3148, (514) 695-3264

April 7 - 8.00 pm - Farshi Mehfil at Brossard.
Information: (514) 586-3148

April 11 - 8.00 pm
Private Mehfil in the Toronto area.

April 12 - 7.00 pm
Noor Cultural Centre, 123 Wynford Drive,

Toronto, Ontario, M3C 1K1 , Phone: (416) 444-7148

April 13 - 8.00 pm
Private Mehfil in the Toronto area.

In order to book your own event on any of the free days between April 6 to April 10 please contact: (514) 586-3148