qawwali
English edit
Etymology edit
From Urdu قوالی (qawwālī), from Classical Persian قوالی (qawwālī).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
qawwali (countable and uncountable, plural qawwalis)
- (music, uncountable) A style of Muslim devotional music, especially among the South Asian Sufis, accompanied by drums and harmonium.
- 1994, Simon Broughton, World Music: The Rough Guide:
- Jameela Siddiqi listens to qawwali and talks to its performers […].
- (music, countable) A song in this style.
- 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins, published 2013, page 223:
- They are singing not a religious qawwali but its secular and lay cousin.
- 2016, Sunil Khilnani, Incarnations, Penguin, published 2017, page 86:
- Every Thursday, in the dargah's enclosure, musicians in shimmering turquoise kurtas, their fingers bejewelled with bling, perform qawwalis attributed to Khusrau […].