
“Shudh Sur: A Musical Journey” was a unique event featuring Ustad Naseeruddin Saami in conversation with Ali Sethi. During this musical evening, the esteemed khayāl gāyak shared part of his vast repertoire of musical knowledge with the LUMS audience.
Naseeruddin Saami is a descendant of the Delhi Gharānā which traces its lineage to Mian Samad Bin Ibrahim—a disciple of Hazrat Amīr Khusrau. He is also one of the few remaining practitioners of classical music with mastery over both khayāl gāyakī and qawwālī.
During the evening’s conversation, moderated by Ali Sethi, Ustad Saami spoke extensively about the history of classical music in the Indian Subcontinent, and the role of various Islamicate musical traditions—Persianate, Arab, and Turkic — in its evolution. Touching upon the title of the event, he also introduced the audience to the concept of a pure note and the principle of each pure note containing seven further microtones in Eastern musical traditions.
The conversation was punctuated by Ustad Saami’s demonstrations of the musical concepts he explained. He was accompanied in these performances by Urooj Saami on the harmonium, Iftikhar Joseph on the tabla, and Zainab Jawad on the tānpurā.
