Thread by @desmukh

The festival of #Holi in Indo-Muslim music 🧵

1/ Kaafi by Bulleh Shah "Hori khelungi keh bismillah" with a beautiful incorporation of a Quranic verse

«اَلَستُ بِرَبِّکُم» پریتم بولے سب سکھیاں نے گنگھٹ کھولے

«قالُوا بلیٰ» ہی یوں کر بولے لا الہ الا اللہ

2/ "Alastu bu rabbikum" (from Quran 7:172) is usually interpreted as the primordial questioning of human souls by Allah asking "Am I not your Lord". Bulleh Shah has visualized this scene as an ecstatic celebration akin to Holi celebrations...

3/ The performance above is by Madan Gopal Singh. Here is a slightly Urdufied qawwali adaptation of the same Bulleh Shah Holi poem performed in Bihar by Meraj Afzaly:

4/ "Mere Hazrat ne Madeenay mein manayi Holi"

- a remarkable thumri by Gauhar Jaan from the early 20th century which seems borderline blasphemous to modern Muslim sensibilities but wasn't when it was recordes apparently:

5/ Another one by Gauhar Jaan, "Hori khelat Khwaja Moinuddin":

6/ Of course, the Chishti sufis really took to adopting the Indian traditions of Spring such as Basant and Holi.

"Ao re Chishtiyo Holi khele
Moray Khwaja ke angane main Holi hai"

Being sung at the Khwaja Gharib Nawaz shrine in Ajmer

7/ Finally, can't end without Ameer Khusro's qawwali "Aj rung hai ri", which may not be a direct reference to Holi but at the very least benefits from the imagery of Holi colours as a mystical celebration.

This performance by the inimitable Subhan Nizami: