EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
AT THE INTERSECTION OF FAITH, CULTURE AND MUSIC
is a conversation between Sonny (Artistic Director of Riyaaz Qawwali) and Aaron Cohen (award winning Chicago music writer) exploring the role of faith, spirituality and heritage through musical expression.
Sonny is Artistic Director of the only American qawwali ensemble Riyaaz Qawwali - an ethnically and spiritually diverse group of musicians with origins in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. They are dedicated to honoring the 700-year old tradition of qawwali and promoting this devotional musical form.
A Qawwal with over 29 years of classical music training, he has spent half of that time devoted to understanding and growing awareness of qawwali. Uniquely, his love for qawwali began in Texas, not in Pakistan or India! He grew up learning from his family and went on to receive training.
Over the last few years, Sonny has given lectures and talks on the role art can play in better understanding the culture and people of South Asia. These sessions have been conducted at Universities (Harvard University and Univ of Chicago), museums (The Getty Museum), schools and major non-profits.
Aaron Cohen is the author of “Move on Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power” (University of Chicago Press) which looks at the social and musical changes that shaped R&B in Chicago during the 1960s and 1970s. He is also the author of Aretha Franklin's 'Amazing Grace' (Bloomsbury)
Cohen teaches humanities, journalism and English composition at City Colleges of Chicago and received a Public Scholar fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2016. Cohen is an award winning music writer (Chicago Tribune, DownBeat, Washington Post, The Nation, NPR and Chicago Reader) and is the two-time recipient of the Deems Taylor Award for outstanding music writing from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).