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KARACHI: The second qawwali session at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) of the Bazm-i-Aqeedat series for the current season, which was to take place before sehri on July 3, has been postponed.

Noted qawwali group Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad, who were to perform on the occasion, will not be able to make it because of personal reasons. The first of this season’s performance took place on June 11. It was a well-attended event. A new date for the postponed event will be announced after Eid. The devotional music, followed by a hearty spread of sehri, has become an annual feature of Napa’s music programmes.

Talking to Dawn, Napa’s Arshad Mahmud said: “The idea behind the [postponed] session was to pay tribute to the slain eminent qawwal Amjad Sabri. Sadly, due to personal reasons, Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad will not be able to put up a performance on the scheduled date.”

Highlighting the importance of the annual event, Mr Mahmud said: “All-night qawwali sessions are a regular feature at our shrines. We wanted to emulate that. For example, to date in places like Pak Patan, all-night qawwalis happen. In Karachi, it was not a practised norm. So, we tried to introduce that idea here.

“Besides, and this is my personal opinion, I felt that people do not have the patience to listen to classical music for six to eight hours. Whereas, the time that qawwali consumes does not stretch for long.”

Originally published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016