Date:30/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/30/stories/2006123020400200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

For enthusiasts of Sufi music

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: When the city overcomes its "New Year hangover", it will witness entertainment of a different kind.

As part of the All India Sufi and Mysric Music festival organised by Banyan Tree Events, Bangaloreans can listen to Qawwalis and songs on the evening of January 6 at Bowring Institute on St. Mark's Road.

The festival called Ruhaniyat has been held in other cities earlier. This time it will cover six cities including Chennai and Hyderabad. A brainchild of Mahesh Babu of Banyan Tree, it is part of the efforts to bring offbeat and creative concepts in entertainment to the discerning public, he says.

What could be different about Ruhaniyat is that more than ever before, the messages of Sufi saints and mystics seem relevant because they knew the secret of a blissful existence amidst all turmoil.

The event in Bangalore will feature Hafiza Begum Chaudhury and her group of musicians from Asssa, the `fakirs' of Hyderabad, Parvathi Baul of Bengal, Kachra Khan, Mahesaram and Mama Khan from villages of Rajasthan, the Sufi qawwali group from Hyderabad, Iqbal Hussain Khan Banda Nawazi and his group and mystic chants by Tibetan monks and Sarfaraz Chisti of Muradabad.