In the comments to my posting yesterday of several qawwali videos, John left a comment asking “Where are the women? Are they barred from singing this kind of music? Who are the great women qawwali singers?” Srijith appropriately replied that, “Qawwali has been traditionally a male art form. I would say one of the most famous female exponents is Abida Parveen.” So here’s an Abida Parveen video:
And my friend Shabbir Kazmi responded by reminding us that many Indian and Pakistani movies of yesteryear used to stage qawwali competitions between male and female qawwali parties, and by sending this lovely video of a qawwali from the film Barsaat Ki Raat (do check it out, and wait a couple of minutes into the video for the women to come in):