Please note that seating for this concert is first-come-first-served, and is not guaranteed.
4:30pm–5pm — Meet and greet
5pm–5:45pm — Pre-concert talk
6pm–7pm — Concert
How does a musical tradition survive over 800 years, when nothing is written down? The vocal tradition of khayal (imagination) has been sustained by eight centuries of oral transmission, with the Saami family as its torchbearers in the 21st century. Without notation, a convention common to Western classical music, khayal has been passed down entirely through oral and aural practice. Across generations, this tradition has relied on master-student relationships built on trust and a consistent practice of refining the ear, voice, and heart, allowing khayal to persist into our present moment.
The Saami brothers, guided by Naseeruddin Saami, the last living master of the 49-note microtonal vocal scale (shrutis), belong to a musical past that can be traced back to 13th-century Delhi, filled with echoes of melodies emanating from the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya’s shrine. Their ancestor was Miyan Samit bin Ibrahim, the one and only disciple of Amir Khusro. Together, they blended Persian melodic modes, Arabic maqaam, Turkish musical elements, and South Asian traditions to create khayal, and its devotional offshoot, qawwali.
The concert will be preceded by a 5pm conversation with Ustad Rauf Saami, and Nermeen Arastu (Professor of Law, student of Ustad Rauf, and Co-Lead, Strategy and Residencies for the Saami family) where we unpack the history of khayal, the importance of oral transmission, what the future holds for living traditions that resist full inscription, and how scholarship and practice might sustain one another in that effort. The Saami family khayal performance will begin at 6pm.
Panel:
Ustad Rauf Saami
Professor Nermeen Arastu, Co-Lead, Strategy and Residencies for The Saami Family & Professor of Law at the City University of New York School of Law
Performers:
Ustad Rauf Saami
Ustad Urooj Saami
Ustad Ahmed Saami
Ustad Azeem Saami
Accompanied by
Manav Khurana, tabla
Co-sponsored by
Qalam Pakistan Inititative
Deaf Reach NA
Sakip Sabanci Center for Turkish Studies
Live at St. Paul’s Chapel — or, watch on YouTube.
If you don’t have a current Columbia ID, you MUST register by clicking the blue “register” button below. (Please do not use the same email address to register multiple people; this will confuse the system.) Registration will close at 11am sharp the day before the concert.
This concert will also be broadcast live on WKCR FM, as part of the station's 85th Anniversary Celebration. The Columbia University-affilated station will broadcast multiple concerts around New York City between September 6th and its milestone October 10th anniversary. All broadcasts will be heard on the air at 89.9 FM-NY and online at wkcr.org. WKCR is a 24/7/365 noncommercial, volunteer station funded entirely by listener donations.