Sunday, 17 February 2013

Moulvi Ahmed Hassan Beranwale Qawwal & Party - Volume 2 - Cassette published in 1980 in UK


Wonderful Qawwali cassette I bought in the 1980s in Southall. The person on the picture is the senior member of the group and father of the singer Moulvi Ahmed Hassan Beranwale Qawwal. See article below.

Side A:
1. Ya Shah-e-Jillani Pa De Khair (10:34)
2. Dekha Ke Jhalak Tum Chup Hi Gaye (19:26)

Side B:
 1. Music (5:06)
2. Yeh Sach Hai Deegar Nabion Se (24:37)



"Qawwali has been blessed with many unique voices. Some of them, like Nusrat's, Munshi Raziuddin's or Ghulam Fareed Sabri's,  are justifiably well known. Others, like Murli Qawwal's, Mubarak Ali-Niaz Ali Qawwal's or Rasheed Ahmed Fareedi Qawwal's , are probably not as widely acclaimed as they ought to be. One of the most unique voices in Qawwali was that of Maulvi Ahmed Hassan Akhter Bheranwale Qawwal. Emotive, raspy, mellifluous, with the ability to elicit tons of feeling out of a few notes. He performed mainly in the '70s and 80's with his father - who I'm 90% sure was named Maulvi Akhtar Hassan Qawwal, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - and his younger brother Maulvi Haider Hassan Qawwal, who currently performs with the remaining members of his elder brother's Qawwali party..
Maulvi Ahmed Hassan quit performing in the late 1980s, which is a real shame because he had a voice and a performance style that was second to none. Performing traditional sufi Kalam in Urdu and Farsi with the same verve and vigour as his Punjabi performances, Maulvi Ahmed Hassan was a true representative of the Punjabi school of Qawwali; imparting a distinctly earthy feel to whatever he sang. The studio recordings he made for OSA are brilliant, with my only gripe being the fact that the recordists didn't place a microphone in front of Maulvi Akhter Hassan, with the result that we can barely hear the senior Qawwal's voice in most of them." 

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