Qawwali icon Amjad Sabri shot dead: Musicians respond with sorrow, shock

The death of renowned qawwali singer Amjad Sabri (of Sabri Brothers fame) in Karachi on Wednesday evening sent shock waves through the music industry in India and Pakistan. The 45-year-old musician was shot by unidentified gunmen while he was travelling in a car in the Liquatabad area of Karachi. Sabri was rushed to the Abbas Shaeedi Hospital, but succumbed to his wounds in transit. Read the Firstpost report on the shooting of Amjad Sabri here. [caption id=“attachment_2850454” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amjad Sabri in concert. Image from Facebook[/caption] As reports of the shooting emerged on Wednesday evening, artistes from both sides of the border expressed their sorrow at the loss. When Firstpost reached out to Shubha Mudgal she told us, “I just heard the news and am deeply saddened at the tragic and untimely loss of a leading artiste of the qawwali tradition.” ‘Iktara’ singer and Sufi musician Kavita Seth also spoke to Firstpost about her shock at the way Sabri had been gunned down in cold blood. “This is very, very sad news. An incident like this makes you wonder what has happened to people. What harm had Amjad Sabri done anyone? He was such a gifted artiste…” Leading musician Kailash Kher termed Sabari’s death as horrifying. “This is a sad development, not just for the music fraternity, but for all of humanity,” he told Firstpost. “Artistes, as a section of society, are possibly more sensitive, kinder (than others) and to see that they are not safe, even in their own countries, is tragic. My heart goes out to his family and all my prayers are with them at this moment.” Noted classical musician Vidya Shah told Firstpost, “I’m really shocked with what has happened and as a musician I believe music is one thing that transcends all inequalities and I don’t know why anybody would want to kill and uproot (sic) the message of peace and love. Given that he was a practitioner of sufiana kalam, which came up at a time to bring people together, it is shocking when people say he deserved it or it was his fault. The fact is that we need messengers of peace, messengers of love, like never before.” In Pakistan, there was a storm of tweets as everyone from actor-singer Ali Zafar to politician Imran Khan took to the micro-blogging platform after news of the shooting first broke. “This is extremely sad, disturbing and unacceptable — especially since he had submitted an application for his protection!” said Zafar. It was a claim that was repeated by Fakhr-e-Alam, a former musician and current head of the Sindh Board of Film Certification. “Amjad Sabri had submitted an application for protection as per his family, but the Home Department did nothing,” Alam tweeted on Wednesday. The police have termed Sabri’s shooting as an “act of terror”. In May 2014, the Islamabad High Court had issued a notice to Sabri and some TV channels in a blasphemy case, over the broadcast of a controversial qawwali song. It is not clear if this was what prompted Wednesday’s shooting. Amjad Sabri came from a lineage of gifted qawwali artistes — his father was Ghulam Fareed Sabri while his uncle was Maqbool Sabri, who enjoyed iconic status not just in Pakistan, but also abroad.