Pakistan's city of culture, whirls with fervour of Islamic mystics
Pappu saein has recently been playing with an underground-ish band in Lahore called Overload - an mp3 of theirs can be downloaded at
Bandbaja.
By PAUL HAVEN -- Associated Press
Whirling in a ritual reverie, the Sufi drummer looks toward the sky and knocks out a feverish beat. The bearded men in bright traditional robes dance and shout around him, each frantically following his own path to enlightenment.
It is midnight in Lahore, Pakistan's city of culture and mysticism, and hundreds of Muslim men have packed the dingy courtyard outside the ramshackle Baba Shah Jamal shrine for the weekly ritual.
They have come to see Pappu Sain, the renowned and rotund Sufi drummer who leads the spectacle every Thursday with a lion-like roar and an enormous beard. He has performed throughout the Muslim world and in Germany, Switzerland and Britain. His followers say he has no equal.
As his hands bang a double-sided drum he wears slung over his shoulder, dancers vie to get as close to him as possible, stomping their feet and shaking sweat-soaked hair in rhythm with the beat. The closer to Pappu, the closer to God.