qawwali means A style of Muslim devotional music, especially among the South Asian Sufis, accompanied by drums and harmonium. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
qawwali is pronounced /kəˈwɑːli/.
Why “qawwali” is a great word
QAWWALI — [Noun] A style of Sufi Muslim devotional music, especially from South Asia, characterized by rhythmic improvisation and typically accompanied by drums and harmonium. From Urdu قوالی (qawwālī), from Classical Persian قوالی (qawwālī), ultimately from Arabic قَوْل (qawl, "saying, utterance"). Unlike the ghazal—a poetic form of love and longing, often secular and introspective—or the kirtan—a participatory Hindu devotional chant—qawwali is a distinct musical ritual designed to induce spiritual ecstasy. It is the percussive heat of the dholak's skin, the drone of the harmonium holding a single chord, and the lead singer's voice fraying at the edges as it climbs—a sonic architecture built not for melody, but for the dissolution of the self in a crowded, sweating room.
Etymology
From Urdu قوالی (qawwālī), from Classical Persian قوالی (qawwālī).
noun
- A style of Muslim devotional music, especially among the South Asian Sufis, accompanied by drums and harmonium.“Jameela Siddiqi listens to qawwali and talks to its performers […].”
- A song in this style.“They are singing not a religious qawwali but its secular and lay cousin.”