World Music Institute to Present Saami Brothers Khayal

WMI will present a special NYC performance of South Asia's khayal sufi tradition, performed in its purest form by its most esteemed contemporary practitioners, The Saami Brothers - featuring a very special appearance by their father, UstadNaseeruddin Saami, the living master of khayaal.

This concert offers an exceedingly rare opportunity to hear Ustad Naseeruddin Saami & Sons perform together. They are widely regarded as the sole living masters of the 49-note microtonal scale and the last bearers of a 700-year-old lineage that traces directly back to the 13th-century poet, musician, and scholar Amir Khusrau.

Whereas Western music is based on a seven-note octave, Ustad Saami and Sons practice encompasses 49 distinct pitches, demanding extraordinary precision and intuition. More than a technical feat, this microtonal system is deeply embedded in the Sufi tradition, where sound itself is understood as sacred. Grammy-award winning Producer, Ian Brennan, noted: "I feel like he transcends musical forms in the same way Luciano Pavarotti was able to transcend the opera." "I think the only person who truthfully understands what he does is him. He hits notes hat only he knows, and no one else knows. He is the master."

Critics and audiences alike have described his performances as transformative. At the WOMAD Festival in England, Saami's one-hour rendition of a single composition moved thousands to tears; listeners spoke of feeling the music resonate physically and spiritually, as if undergoing change at the neurological level.

For this program, Ustad Saami appears with his sons-Ustads Rauf and Urooj Saami (vocals) and Ahmed Saami (harmonium)-joined by sarangi and tabla. Together they present Khayal, a form whose very name translates to "imagination." Rarely heard in its pure form, Khayal is a discipline of vast improvisation, intricate melodic exploration, and profound contemplative depth.

This Manhattan performance is not only an introduction to a master vocalist, but also to a lineage of knowledge preserved for over seven centuries-knowledge that continues to be transmitted, one voice to the next. It is a rare chance to encounter a living tradition at its highest level.

WMI's Origins series features artists who delve into the folklore and roots of their respective cultures' music to tell the story of their origins, preserving and affirming cultural identities and legacies.