Faiz Ali Faiz et son ensemble
Artistic Director : Martina Catella
Pakistan -Spain

Faiz Ali Faiz and his group
Miguel Poveda: vocals
Duquende: vocals
Chicuelo: guitar

Duquende, Faiz Ali Faiz and Miguel Poveda Photo: Cathrine Clippel

Flamenco is the music of the gypsies of Spain. The raw power of the cante jondo, wrenched as if from the very core of the earth, evokes great depths of emotion, echoing the hollow cry that comes from the innermost heart of man.
Flamenco music bears witness to a strength that carries both the listener and the artist well beyond the frontiers of all that is called art. It speaks to man of the depths of joy, solitude and sadness. Flamenco music has an intrinsic relationship with the Sacred via its ability to arouse emotions that transcend all rules and conventions.

The origin of Qawwali music on the Indian subcontinent stems from the foundation of Sufi brotherhoods which started to proliferate from the beginning of the 13th century.

It is said that Qawwali was created by Ameer Kushraw, a mystic, poet and musician of that period. The music is in the form of Samaa (spiritual songs) peculiar to the Indo-Muslim culture, although there is a substrata of Hindustani music in its melodies and rhythms. Qawwali songs are sung in the shrines of saints and spiritual masters of the Muslim world in India and Pakistan.

The Qawwals, (from the Arabic qaul meaning voice or call) are organized around a spiritual leader, himself connected by an uninterrupted chain of initiates (silsila) to the group of masters and to the founder of the order. They are often connected with the Chishitiya fraternity, named after its founder, Moinuddin Chishti, who lived in the 13th century.

Between these two musical styles, and between these two cultures, lies a bond of common emotion.

The Hindustani musical interpretation used by Qawwali is greatly influenced by the style and rhythms of the north Indian ragas, and at the same time embraces all that has been gleaned along the path of the Sufi missionaries. Flamenco music has also grown from the long path of the gitanos (gypsies), whose roots are in the same geographical region as the qawwalis: Rajastan.

Both of these masterful vocal styles, Qawwali and Flamenco, express the displacement of a people in exile, and pose existential questions to man and God.
The pain of this separation, called friaq for the Qawwali and duende in Flamenco, is expressed by a continuous percussion (tabla and cajon, amongst others), so that the essential meaning of the lyrics is imparted to the listener.

It can be seen, then, that these two musical styles stem from the same culture and musical family. It is for this reason that Faiz Ali Faiz, one of the new generation of Qawwali masters, and Miguel Poveda, one of the most brilliant Spanish Flamenco singers, have returned to their roots and now present their creation.

Faiz Ali Faiz was born in 1962 in Sharapur, Pakistan, into a family of seven generations of qawwals. Although he is a native of Lahore, he plays in the doaba style of eastern Pakistan. He is also influenced by the Shams-chaurasi, the well-known school of khyal singing with the teacher Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. Faiz Ali studied classical music with Ustad Ghulam Shabir Khan and Ustad Jafat Khan, and qawwali music with Muhammad Ali Faridi and Abdur Rahim Faridi Qawwal.

Contrary to the stereotypical Spanish tradition, Miguel Poveda is neither Andalucian nor gypsy. The Cantaor (singer) was born in 1973 in Badalona, near Barcelona. At the age of 20 he gained international recognition when he won the prestigious 1993 Lampara Mineras prize at the 33rd Festival de las Minas de la Union. This was followed by the film La Teta y la Luna by Bigas Luna, his first recording Viento del Este, and by his participation in numerous national and international festivals.

An innovative artist, yet respectful of tradition, Poveda takes the heritage of the old maestros and adds a breath of fresh air to the cante jondo. He is one of the best interpreters of this style of his generation. In 2000, he was nominated for a Latino Grammy for his second CD, Suena Flamenco, which was released in 1998.

Juan Gómez, known as Chicuelo, was born in 1968 in Barcelona and is one of the best known Flamenco guitarists. A pupil of Manolo Sanlucar in Muñoz, Chicuelo played with Sabicas in 1989 at the International Flamenco Seminary in Begur, in the house that once belonged to Carmen Amaya. He has appeared as a musician on the recordings of Tomatito, Duquende, Mayte Martín and Joan Manuel Serrat, and as musical director for Ginesa Ortega’s Siento y Oscuría, Miguel Poveda’s Suena Flamenco and Zaguán, among others. Chicuelo has made many tours of Europe, Japan and the United States. For the last seven years he has been musical director of the Japanese dance company Shoji-Kojima, and is currently musical director of Somorrostro Dansa Flamenca.

Juan Rafael Cortès, known as Duquende, was born in 1965 in Sabadell, into a gipsy family. At the age of 8, he was invited to sing on stage by Camarón who accompanied him on the guitar, but it wasn’t until 1992 that he began his professional career. In 1996 he became the first singer invited to give a flamenco recital at the Champs-Elysées Theatre, where he has often appeared since. Paco de Lucia asked Duquende to join his group, with whom he has toured the world. He has also made solo appearances in most European countries and across the Americas. In 2000, he appeared in New York