Kashti - Riyaaz Qawwali's first album

Kashti was the debut album of the Riyaaz Qawwali ensemble and was released in June 2013 and was commercially made available in the Spring of 2014. Kashti, which mean boat or vessel in Urdu and Hindi, was selected as the title to exemplify the ensemble's use of music as a vessel to explore different religious traditions and their linguistic, philosophical, cultural, and moral confluence

Tracks included are:

  1. Zehal-e-Miskeen

  2. Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram

  3. Awwal Allah Noor Upaya

  4. Tohi Mohi Mohi Tohi Antar Kaisa

  5. Mast Qalandar

  6. Vaishnava Jan To

Also included within, is a thorough and a personal exploration of Qawwali, Kashti and each track in the album.

Kashti - Audio CD Kashti - Audio CD
$15.00
“Although Kashti is your first album, it has placed [Riyaaz Qawwali] among the best names in qawwali in the Indian subcontinent.”
— H. Kazim ('Voice of Asia' & 'Asian Outlook')
“The most gripping qawwali talent, and that too in the United States— Mashalla!”
— Mr. Aqil Nadeem (Consul General, Houston Consulate of Pakistan)
“Qawwali has originated in India and Pakistan. Some people from India and Pakistan will be asking their friends if they have heard of the qawwali group from Texas? Kashti is a must-have for your music collection.”
— Meena Datt (Host of Music of India & Ghungroo, KXYZ 1320 AM)
“Upbeat and demands [the listener’s] participation.”
— OnBeing with Krista Tippett
“The CD weaves poetry from diverse cultures to illumine the “oneness” residing at the heart of faith traditions around the world.”
— India Herald
“[Kashti’s tracks] ... were immediately intriguing, lilting, and entrancing and fit in neatly with the name and theme... ”
— J. Malhotra (Indo-American News)
“Kashti is a beautiful reflection of Riyaaz Qawwali’s belief that music is a potent medium for connection, transcendence, and joy.”
— Asia Society Texas Center
“[Riyaaz Qawwali] ... filled the space with deeply rhythmic enthralling music ... at times with the audience dancing in the isles. The power of Asian music is rarely given such a platform to enchant.”
— Asian American Arts Center, New York

At the unveiling of the CD (Asia Society), this was right after the Guests of Honor revealed the cover to the audience.

Acknowledgments

V Sapuram | F Butte | D Thomas | S Subramanian | KY Ng | M Ranjan | KT Lin | K Agaram | S Chugani | A Gratovich | L Nazemian | P Kaul | N Shekar | M Faiz | V Chitale | R Cheruvu | M Haque | SC Gadda | P Sehgal | RK Gorle | Z Hassan | S Raychoudhury | R Bedi | S Mehta | A Mehta | AA Gupta | A Agarwal | G Bhatt | R Bhutada | K Jagadish | A Patil | B Hans | A Loya | A Rode | S Purwar | P Jain | S Sami | Z Abdisubhan | S Arora | A Kumar | R Tripathy | C Ridpath | S Glover | J Haque | A Murthy | D Venkatesh | R Nulu | A Shah | G Pandher | M Zaidi | V Modani | N Bhana | A Haque | M Suri | N'Z'K Birring | T Taimre | R Jain | M Jain | R Khan | F Khan | K & S Kharod | V Venkatsubra | A Simha | M Naik | SB Dongur | O Khan | P Nelluru | J Ahmed | A Dungarani | A Sattar | L Hussain | D Ramaswamy | N Jain | G Jayaraman | H Bhagatram | S Farooquie | A Dadabhoy | SR Ravi | AW Hall | N Raheja | M Jesani | S Sahni | S Khan | SS Gill | YMP Bindal | A Balakrishnan | S Nulu |
S Dhawan | V & S Pallod | H Singh