Ghulam Farid Sabri (1930 – 5 April 1994) was a qawwali singer and member of the Sabri Brothers, a qawwali group in Pakistan in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The Sabri Brothers received the Pride of Performance award by the President of Pakistan in 1978. Sabri was also a Sufi mystic connected to the Chishti Order.
Early life
Ghulam Farid Sabri was born in Kalyana, a village in the district of Rohtak in Punjab, British India in 1930. His family's musical lineage stretches back several centuries, to the age of the Mughal emperors. His family claims direct descent from Mian Tansen, the musician of the court of Akbar the Great, the Mughal emperor. Mehboob Baksh Ranji Ali Rang, his paternal grandfather, was a musician; Baqar Hussein Khan, his maternal grandfather, was a sitarist. His family belongs to the Sabriyya order of Sufism, hence the surname Sabri was adopted by them.
Ghulam Farid Sabri was raised in Gwalior, India. In his youth, he wanted to turn away from the world and live in the wilderness; his mother's stern rebuke turned him back to his responsibilities. At the age of six, Ghulam Farid Sabri commenced his formal instruction in music under his father, Inayat Hussain Sabri. He was instructed in North Indian classical music and qawwali. He was also instructed in the playing of the harmonium and tabla. Before starting to learn music, Ghulam Farid Sabri along with his father visited the shrine of Sufi saint Khwja Ghaus Muhammad Gwaliori in Gwalior to seek blessings.
Ghulam Farid Sabri initially learnt music from his father and many other musical teachers (Ustad) in Gwalior. Later, he and his younger brothers Maqbool Ahmed Sabri and Kamaal Ahmed Sabri furthered their knowledge of music under Ustad Fatehdin Khan, Ustad Ramzan Khan, Ustad Kallan Khan, Ustad Latafat Hussein Khan Rampuri, and their spiritual master Hazrat Hairat Ali Shah Warsi.
Migration to Pakistan
Following the independence of Pakistan in 1947, his family was uprooted from their native town and transported to a refugee camp in Karachi, Pakistan. Conditions in the camp were woeful, food was scarce and expensive, and the rewards for hard work were barely enough to sustain life. Malnutrition was rife and brought with it f tuberculosis and dysentery. Sabri found employment carrying bundles of bricks for the government house building or breaking rocks to build roads. At night, almost single-handedly, he built his own brick house to shelter his family. Eventually, he became ill. Worn out, he was told by a physician that due to the condition of his lungs, he would never again have the strength to sing. In despair, he went to his father for advice and the advice he was given was uncompromisingly tough. Every night for the next two years, he would have to sit in the middle of the camp for four to five hours making zikr. All those days he bore the scars of beatings with wood sticks and stones thrown by his tired, sleepless neighbours and brawls he was in, when they were determined to stop him; but he would not be deterred and, as time went by, his lungs grew stronger and his magnificent voice was formed. Soon, Sabri started to mix with a small group of people who appreciated qawwali.