The sole representative of the Qawwal Bachcha/ Dilli harana in khayal, Ustad Naseeruddin Saami, traces his lineage back to Mian Saamat Bin Ibrahim and Mian Tanras Khan, one of the original ‘Qawwal bacchas’ and royal tutor to Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar, respectively. Trained under the profound tutelage of his late uncle, the eminent Munshi Raziuddin, he imbibed the wide-ranging repertoire of his gharana, which encompasses khayal, as well as qawwali. On the instruction of his mentor, he also trained under other elders of the Dilli gharana, namely Sardar Khan and Pyaray Khan.
Keeping in the tradition of his forefathers, Saami Sahib’s music is intrinsically linked to his religiosity and spirituality. He invokes his forefathers’ claim to ‘Sudhani’ (founders of purity in an expression), in the realization of the immaculate ‘Sur’.
“When the sur was given stillness, it revealed the realities of ‘muqaams’* aligned to it. It is on the basis of the one Sa that we find all the other surs: re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni, as well as, what lies between them… And our Sa bears witness to their truth.”
This, undoubtedly, is the cornerstone of the uniqueness of his singing, in which he employs a microtonal structure of 49 intervals per octave, much above the prevalent 22 intervals per octave.Ustad Naseeruddin Saami was conferred the prestigious President’s Pride of Performance by the Government of Pakistan in 2007.