In an unbroken chain spanning over 800 years, a form of music has inspired, entranced and enlightened people. Songs of the Sufi (2023) takes viewers on a musical and artistic journey that catalogues traditional Qawwali, the mystical music tradition of the Indian Subcontinent associated with 13th-century Sufi seminaries, which is enjoyed globally today.

The Institute of Ismaili Studies is pleased to present this multi-award-winning film at the Aga Khan Centre. Join us for an exclusive screening followed by a moderated discussion with producers Kamran Moin Anwar and Professor Katherine Butler Schofield. Watch the trailer below.

Speakers' Info:

• Kamran Moin Anwar, Producer and Executive Producer

Kamran took a year-long sabbatical from his finance career to create Songs of the Sufi, driven by his passion for Qawwali and his desire to conserve classical Qawwali roots and inform others about the unknown nuances of this spiritual music genre. Prior to this endeavor, he directed Rung, a widely acclaimed collection of traditional Qawwali CDs featuring extensive insights on the genre, performers, and Qawwali translations, each amassing 5 million+ YouTube views. He also researched and narrated Hidden Gems of Lahore, a Destinations Media series uncovering Lahore’s unique historic sites. He is a frequent speaker on art and culture and is an avid collector of miniature paintings, Indian silver, and contemporary Pakistani art.

• Katherine Butler Schofield, Co-Producer

Katherine Schofield is Head of the Department of Music at King’s College London and one of world’s leading scholars on rāga-based music of the Mughal period. She has written and lectured extensively on the subject, is the recipient of a European Research Council Grant and a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship. She is co-editor of Tellings and Texts: Music, Literature and Performance in North India (2015) and Monsoon Feelings: A History of Emotions in the Rain (2018).

• William Rees Hofmann, Research Associate

William Rees Hofmann (PhD, SOAS) is a Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies. He has published on the musical knowledge and Afghan biographies of the poet-musician Amīr Ḳhusraw, and the construction of Hindustani music history in Mughal texts. He is currently working on the connected textual and musical traditions of Nizārī Ismā’īlī, Sufi, and Bhakti devotion in early modern Gujarat, Rajasthan, and the Deccan, as well as completing a monograph, tentatively titled Amīr Ḳhusraw and Sufi Ecologies of Song: South Asian Musical Traditions from the Sultanate to Early Mughal Period, under contract with EUP. William is also a multi-instrumentalist and composer specialising in both the Indian Sarod and the Afghan Rubab, and is the director of Ensemble Khusrawi, an Indo-Persian musical ensemble.