Press

  • “Imagine Antibalas if they had been listening to Nusrat instead of Fela, and then building jazz centered improvisations around it. Like Toubab Krewe and Nomo, it's the kind of thing that sounds a little scary on paper, and then you hear it and realize that they kill it, and find a unique new spin.....funky, smart, loving, and they are really finding their own voice. Closest comparison might be Bollywood Brass Band from the UK, but I think BQP are even more interesting and inventive."

    — Bill Bragin, World Music Central

  • "Some of the smartest and most deeply enjoyable working bands in New York these days are essentially repertory groups, taking the music of a single composer or a single far-afield idiom and feeding it back through a new sensibility. Liking Brooklyn Qawwali Party doesn't depend on if you know what Qawwali is. (It's ancient Sufi devotional music from the Indian subcontinent; each piece is long and heavily rhythmic, working up to climax after climax.) Nor does it depend on how you feel about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, its most revered practitioner. BQP piles texture into Mr. Khan's melodies, ultimately transforming them; it's joyous music, and this band adds all the extra fun and funk it knows."

    — Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

  • “Brooklyn Qawwali Party to me represents an intriguing evolution in the taste of young musicians and jazz players in New York.... To me, it’s very exciting and inspirational.”

    — Rob Weisberg, NPR - All Songs Considered

  • “As BQP’s music makes its way into the hearts of thousands of New Yorkers, one can only marvel at the fantastic job the group is doing to bring the richness of Sufism and Pakistani music to mainstream America.”

    - Zeeshan Suhail

  • "...like somehow Pakistan met Brooklyn in the Nigerian compound of the late Fela Kuti..."

    - John Schaefer, NPR/WNYC Soundcheck

  • “[BQP’s] songs energize and captivate the listener, but what continues to amaze me is how experiential their concerts can be, much like when Nusrat performed. None of the band members have seen him live or in person, yet each performs with the same gusto and zest that a Sufi soul performer would.”t Item

    - Pakistani Post

  • “What began as an experiment for a group of jazz musicians from Brooklyn, New York, has caught on as a popular mix of western and oriental music form.”

    - CNN International – TV

Highlighted Venues of Past BQP Performances: 

Clearwater Music Festival (Croton-on-Hudson, NY) 

Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (New York, NY)

Midsummer Nights in Midtown Festival @ Majestic Theater (Detroit, MI) 

Beachland Ballroom (Cleveland, OH)

Webster Hall, globalFEST (New York, NY)

Philadelphia Art Museum – Art @ 5 (Philadelphia, PA)

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (Newark, NJ)

Brooklyn Museum's First Saturdays (Brooklyn, NY)

Le Poisson Rouge (New York, NY)

Kripalu Yoga Center (Lenox, MA)

Southpaw (Brooklyn, NY)

Barbes (Brooklyn, NY)

Joe’s Pub (New York, NY) 

Media coverage of BQP:

TV:

CNN International "Faith, Music & Culture" CBS Documentary 

In Print:

New York Times

Wall Street Journal

Songlines Magazine

Little India Magazine: (largest Indian publication in the US)

DAWN: Pakistan's most widely circulated English language newspaper/tv

India Today Magazine

India Abroad Magazine

Beyond Race Magazine 

Radio:

NPR – All Songs Considered

NPR – WNYC Soundcheck live - Voted one of WNYC's best live performances of the year

WBEZ - Chicago Public Radio: Radio M

WFMU – NYC live performance WBGO – 88.3 FM NYC 

Online: 

World Music Central 

Gibson Guitar India 

The Express Tribune 

Mumbai Mirror 

Pakistani Post