Filmi qawwali is a form of qawwali

Qawwali

Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, Hyderabad, Delhi, and other parts of northern India...

 music found in the Lollywood

Lollywood

Lollywood refers to the Pakistani film industry based in the city of Lahore. The word "Lollywood" was first coined in the summer of 1989 in the now defunct magazine "Glamour" published from Karachi by a gossip columnist Saleem Nasir. The film industry in Lahore started in 1929 with the opening of...

 and Bollywood

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

 film industries.

It represents a distinct sub-genre of film music

Filmi

Filmi is Indian popular music as written and performed for Indian cinema. Music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playback singers and it makes up 72% of the music sales in India....

, although it usually bears little resemblance to traditional qawwali, which is the devotional music of the Sufis. One example of filmi qawwali is the song Pardah Hai Pardah

Pardah hai pardah

Parda Hai Parda is a filmi qawwali song from the Bollywood 1977 film, Amar Akbar Anthony. It was performed by playback singer Mohammed Rafi and the lyrics were penned by Anand Bakshi; the film's musical directors were the duo Laxmikant-Pyarelal...

 sung by Mohammed Rafi

Mohammed Rafi

Mohammad Rafi , was an Indian playback singer whose career spanned four decades. He was awarded National Award and 6 Filmfare Awards. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri awarded by the Government of India....

, and composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

Within the sub-genre of filmi qawwali, there exists a form of qawwali that is infused with modern and Western

Western culture

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

 instruments, usually with techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 beats, called techno-qawwali. An example of techno-qawwali is Kajra Re, a filmi song composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

Recently, A.R. Rahman has composed filmi qawwalis in the style of traditional qawwali. Examples include Arziyan (Delhi 6), Khwaja Mere Khwaja (Jodhaa Akbar) and Kun Faya Kun (Rockstar

Rockstar (2011 film)

Rockstar is a 2011 Hindi musical film directed by Imtiaz Ali, starring Ranbir Kapoor and debutant Nargis Fakhri, with music composed by A. R. Rahman. Eros International Ltd. co-produces the film with Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd...

).

External links

• [ Article on Filmi Qawwali]
• Article on Techno-Qawwali