Attended a wonderful Sufi concert at Nehru Centre, Mumbai, on Saturday, which paid tribute to Amir Khusro through the rendition of his poetry and compositions.
The musicians included classical singer Aslam Khan, ghazal exponents Shobha Joshi, Dilraj Kaur and Vithal Rao, sitar player Riyaz Ahmed Khan (accompanied by Jayatilal Gosher on rabab) and qawwali group Chisti Brothers.... Vithal Rao, who hails from Hyderabad, is a veteran who has taught many ghazal artistes including Talat Aziz. He's in his late 70s now, but maintains a supreme command of timbre and tune, as was evident on the song 'Zehal-e-Miskin'. The song has also been sung by the Sabri Brothhers and Zila Khan - in case anyone has it (Senty-ji, are you there?), please post it. The Chisti Brothers were okay - I've seen qawwali groups which are more effervescent like Nusrat's group and the Wadali Brothers. But they did have the crowd clapping in unison on Khusro's famous 'Chaap Tilak'
The concert was organised by Banyan Tree, which organises an annual Sufi festival caleld Ruhaniyat in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune - maybe Bangalore though I'm not sure. In case it comes to your city next, do check it out. The Mumbai show is in November and Hyderabad is sometime in March or April