The Sabri Brothers

The Sabri Brothers are a Qawwali party from Pakistan.

Original members

The Sabri Brothers originally consisted of Ghulam Farid Sabri ( lead vocals, harmonium), Maqbool Ahmed Sabri (b. October 12, 1941 or 1945 in Kalyana; lead vocals, harmonium), Kamal Sabri (d. 2001; vocals, swarmandal), Mehmood Ghaznavi Sabri ( vocals, bongo drums, tambourine), Fazal Islam (chorus), Azmat Farid Sabri (chorus), Sarwat Farid Sabri (chorus), Javed Kamal Sabri (chorus), Umer Daraz (chorus), Abdul Aziz (chorus), Masihuddin (chorus, tanpura), Abdul Karim (dholak), and Mohammed Anwar (nal, tabla).

Early life

The Sabri brothers learnt music from their father, Ustad Inayat Sen Sabri. He trained his sons in Qawwali and North Indian classical music. Their first public performance was at the annual Urs festival of Hazrat Peer Mubarak Shah in Kalyana in 1946. The family moved from India to Karachi, Pakistan following the Partition of India in 1947. Maqbool furthered his knowledge of music under Ustad Fatehdin Khan, Ustad Ramzan Khan, and Ustad Latafat Hussein Khan Rampuri. With the help of his father, Maqbool formed a Qawwali group at the age of eleven. Soon afterwards, Ghulam Farid, who was then performing with Ustad Kallan Khan’s Qawwali party, joined him and became the leader of the party, which soon came to be known as Sabri Brothers

Career

Their first recording, released in 1958 under the EMI Pakistan label, was the Urdu Qawwali, Mera Koi Nahin Hai. They were the first exponents of Qawwali to the West, when they performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1975. The group now features Maqbool as the leader, supported by Mehmood Ghaznavi Sabri.

Over the years, several of their qawwalis have featured in films. ‘Mera Koi Nahin Hai appeared in the 1965 film Ishq-e-Habib, Mohabbat Karne Walo in the 1970 film Chand Suraj, Aaye Hain Tere Dar Pe in the 1972 film Ilzam, Bhar Do Johli Meri Ya Muhammad in the 1975 film Bin Badal Barsaat, Teri Nazr-e-Karam in the 1976 film Sachaii, and Tajdar-e-Haram in the 1982 film Sahaaray.