Fareed Ayaz

Ghulam Fariduddin Ayaz Al-Hussaini Qawwal (born 13 November 1952) is a Pakistani Sufi devotional singer who belongs to the Qawwal Bacchon ka Gharana of Delhi, a qawwali lineage traced to the earliest disciples of Amir Khusro. He was born in Hyderabad, India, moved with his family to Karachi in 1956, and began his training in classical music under his father, Munshi Raziuddin Ahmed Khan Qawwal. Alongside qawwali he performs Hindustani classical forms including dhrupad, khayal, tarana, thumri and dadra. He is a descendant of Mir Qutub Bakhsh, who was given the title Tanras Khan by the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar and served as the emperor's music tutor and court musician. Fareed Ayaz leads his qawwal party with his younger brother Abu Muhammad Qawwal; performing as Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad Qawwal Brothers, they are among Pakistan's best-known qawwali ensembles and have performed across more than thirty countries. Their recordings include several Coke Studio Pakistan appearances, among them "Kangna" (2011), "Aaj Rung Hai" (2012) and "Shikwa/Jawab-e-Shikwa" (2018). He received the Pride of Performance award from the Government of Pakistan in 2006.