Times Sufi Nights: Day 1, Farid Ayaz and group

I almost didn't go yesterday. Before the start of the show, i dint know the name of the singer even. Just that it was a Sufi concert and a famous qawwal from Pakistan was performing. And of course the venue - Quli Qutb Shahi Tombs (QQS).

I love open-air events and concerts especially when they take place in heritage monuments, another reason i wanted to go.

I went hoping for a pleasant evening in a beautiful location. I came back stunned and gloriously happy.

The venue was beautifully lit with colored lights in garish hues. Magenta, orange and green, on the walls of the tombs looked loud and cheerful and very 'Hyderabadi'. The platform of the stage was festooned with glittering silver streamers and candles in glass votives were placed in front of the performers. Big white POP filigreed lamps were placed all over the grounds - dreamy. Total awesomeness and the concert had not even begun. 

The concert started an hour late. But that was totally forgiven. Farid Ayaz and group entered to a standing ovation (yes, i finally learnt the singer's name). A few minutes in to the first qawwali and i was mesmerized. That's how i was for the two and half hour show. Farid Ayaz and group rocked it. 

The rendition of Chaap Tilak Sab Cheeni had me teary eyed. The song is by no means sad but their powerful singing affected me so. Over the course of the evening i felt shivers running down my spine several times. (And i also embarrassed myself totally by falling into a knee-deep pool of water on my way back from the washroom. Hurt, embarassed and dripping wet, i sat through the last two numbers.) 

That's how awesome the evening was. Entry to all 3 Times Sufi Nights (TSN) concerts is free but you do need a pass that you can get from the TOI HQ. 

Vidya Shah and Rekha Bharadwaj are singing today at the QQS tombs. I am hoping to snag passes and go with my camera so i can share the awesomeness of the venue with you all. Tomorrow, is the last of the Times Sufi Nights. 

As part of the TSN, the Wadali Brothers are performing at the Char Minar tomorrow. I am desperate to go but apparently the passes are all over. Considering that the concert is free, if i don't get passes, i am thinking i will just go to the venue and work my way in... 

PS: Do you get as irritated as i do when people next to you talk during the concert? And don't you think it is rude to walk out of the concert a little after half the show is over, when the artist is mid-way through a song. ( i dint see any reason for the few people who left early to leave the way they did since the concert was fabulous).

Pic from Coke Studio