Womad

Sheikh Taha

The next Sufi singer supreme?

Here at WOMAD, we've never been slow in declaring a fascination with Sufi music, the art form that attempts to create a direct bond with God and that's favoured by Islamic mystics from Senegal to Afghanistan. It was back in the mid-80s that we experienced our first encounter with Sufi singers when the mighty Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, soon to enjoy a long association with WOMAD, performed right through the night to an astonished audience. A couple of decades on, our fascination continues through a dedicated Sufi night that emphasises the music's geographical spread. The first singer to grace the stage is a young man from Luxor, on the banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Often favourably compared to Sheikh Ahmad Al Tuni (long regarded to be the biggest figure in Egypt's Sufi music), Sheikh Taha has a commitment and mastery that's evident from just a couple of bars of his magnificent voice. And when that voice is accompanied by desert-dry percussion and the weaving lines of the violin, even the doubters can't deny the power of devotional singing just got even stronger.

Biog by Nige Tassell