Born in lockdown and watched by millions, the Orchestral Qawwali Project is transforming a 700-year-old sacred tradition for a global stage. Led by singer Abi Sampa and composer Rushil Ranjan, the project fuses the ecstatic poetry and trance-like repetition of Sufi qawwali with the sweeping power of Western orchestral music.
From selling out London’s Royal Albert Hall to their first-ever performance in Paris with 135 musicians on stage, they are redefining what devotional music can be, crossing centuries, cultures and languages, and moving audiences even when words fall away.
