I'm serious about this...aficionados of photography, qawwali, sufism, history and Indian culture...this is especially for you.
It's a must-view audio-slideshow of a legendary qawwali singer and musician from Delhi produced by Kaushik Ghosh, that will assuredly garner your admiration. I predict we shall hear much more of Kaushik in the weeks, months and years to come.
In the late 13th century in India, Amir Khusro, a musician, scholar and poet as well as a follower of the Chisti order of Sufis, was instrumental in merging Persian and Indian musical traditions to create qawwali as we know it today.
Ustad Meraj Ahmed Nizami is the elder descendant of a close disciple of Khusro, and belongs to its well-known discipline known as "gharana". His extended family has been performing qawwali for the past eight centuries, and as such Khusro's style has passed unbroken across seven centuries and thirty generations.
Kaushik Ghosh is a self-taught freelance documentary photographer based in Delhi, India. Born and raised in Kolkata, he graduated with a medical degree from the University of Calcutta, and received training in fine arts from All India Fine Arts Association.
Prior to becoming a documentary photographer in 2011, he worked in the Indian healthcare sector for 7 years in various positions ending as the Medical Project Head of East and Northeast India. In 2012, he became the editorial and creative contributor of Getty Images, and an editor for a multimedia production of a UNESCO supported documentary. His photographs were featured in The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Better Photography, The Travel Photographers Network, Muse Magazine and others.
Meraj, The Last Qawwal can also be viewed on Vimeo.
