Ustad Saami

Pakistani singer Ustad Saami is the last known surviving practitioner of the modal form of khayal technique, devotional music pre-dating the better-known qawwali style. Khayál translates as “imagination” and stems from the Qawwal Bachon ka Gharana music school, based on mystical Sufi poetry. Saami, whose name translates “to hear”, continues a daily routine of exercises, from 4 AM to midday, to preserve this ancient technique. He is regarded as the last living surti master, or ‘Ustad’.