POCKER SAHIB MEMORIAL ORPHANAGE COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS) TIRURANGADI

One Day International Webinar on Shah Abdul Lathif’s Music in Meshworks of Land and Sea

One Day International Webinar on Shah Abdul Lathif’s Music in Meshworks of Land and Sea

Shah Jo Raag, literally meaning “the Shah’s music,” is a repertoire for singing the mystical poetry of Sindhi Sufi Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689-1752). Since the eighteenth century, it has been orally transmitted by faqir devotees at the saint’s abode in Bhit Shah. Faqirs sing thirty-one Surs, which are thematic chapters of verses each set to a unique melodic formula. Pei- Ling Huang will first introduce the practice of singing Shah Jo Raag, focusing on its connection with conventions of samā‘ (spiritual audition) in Sindhi Sufi traditions. Then, borrowing the concept of wayfaring (Ingold 2011), she will discuss the repertoire of Surs as a cumulative meshwork of lived journeys that connected Bhit Shah with places beyond Sindh through routes of land and sea.

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