Music of Pakistan: the serie

A documentary directed by Yves Billon.

Synopsis

Episode 1 : Music of Pak­istan: reli­gious music and Soufi music

Dur­ing their meet­ings, those who prac­tice soufism lis­ten to the poems sung by their mas­ters, “the Qhawali”. This tra­di­tional music, enhanced by new lit­er­ary and musi­cal ele­ments, has become the most pop­u­lar in Pakistan.

Today, mas­ters like Nus­rat Fateh Ali Khan and Pataney Khan are the great­est heirs of this tra­di­tion. These artists sing praises to the Prophet and his saints. Dur­ing a voy­age through the coun­try and towns of the Sind and Pun­jab, we encounter these artists as they per­form in mau­soleums, mar­riages, and fes­ti­vals. This film presents a por­trait of these mas­ter­ful musi­cians in all the splen­dour of their art.

Episode 2 : Music of Pak­istan: music of Balouchistan

The Baloutchi peo­ple occupy a vast ter­ri­tory cov­er­ing half of west­ern Pak­istan. Faith­ful to their atavism of nomads, the Baloutchis wan­der the fron­tier zones of Afghanistan, the Iran­ian Kho­rasan, and the Per­sian Gulf. Their lan­guage and cus­toms bear wit­ness of their Aryan ori­gins. Hav­ing con­verted to Islam very early, the Baloutchis have remained faith­ful to this religion.

This film is a voy­age through the twi­light of their world, spend­ing long stages with black makranie eth­nic groups on the coast, as well as with the moun­tain der­viches. Their tra­di­tion of tran­sic exor­cism is shown here dur­ing noc­tur­nal cer­e­monies. How­ever, it is always the magic of music and the charm of the musi­cian which oper­ates in this coun­try. Here the music is filmed for the first time in its orig­i­nal form, at the sight of spon­ta­neous manifestations.