Source: The Media Line, 21 October 2026 — “Karachi Opens Global Arts Festival With Centuries-Old Qawwali Tradition” — https://themedialine.org/mideast-streets/karachi-opens-global-arts-festival-with-centuries-old-qawwali-tradition/
Karachi opened the third edition of its World Culture Festival on 29 October 2026 with a performance rooted in one of South Asia’s oldest musical traditions — and it chose Hamza Akram Qawwal & Brothers to open it.
The opening qawwali concert, held at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi at 9 p.m., launched a festival that brought together more than 1,000 artists from over 150 countries, alongside more than 500 Pakistani artists, across 25 days of theatre, dance, cinema, visual arts and music. Admission to the opening concert was free for families, with advance registration required.
For the brothers, the honour was a natural fit. Hamza Akram, performing with his brothers Taimoor and Abdul Akram, represents the 26th generation of the Qawwal Bachon ka Gharana of Delhi — a lineage tracing its traditions back centuries — and a new generation carrying classical qawwali into contemporary concert settings. The festival’s choice said something about where qawwali stands today: not as a museum piece, but as the music a global festival opens with.
The opening night led into more than three weeks of performances, from non-verbal physical theatre and contemporary dance to international musical collaborations and concerts by Pakistani artists. The Arts Council described the festival as a chance to bring international artistic traditions into dialogue with Pakistan’s own cultural heritage — and the qawwali night set that tone from the first evening.
To open a festival of that scale is a mark of how far the brothers’ music now travels. The same voices that fill a mehfil in Karachi opened a gathering of artists from around the world — and the tradition they carry, centuries old, was the first sound the festival made.
This post is a rephrased summary of The Media Line’s report of 21 October 2026, shared here for our press archive. Read the original at the link above.
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