Beyond the Frame 33/
The perfect place to sit, Nizamuddin, the sacred music of Qawwali, Nusrat, Jeff Buckley, and The Lifeboat Station Project.
The best place in the world?
In interviews, one of the most common questions I’m asked is, “What is your favourite place in the world?” It is, of course, an impossible question to answer. I’m fortunate to have found opportunities to travel but the list of places I’ve visited is vanishingly small in the wider context, so I’m not even remotely equipped to recommend one place over another.
Even if I could be persuaded to pick a destination, the choice varies from day to day, hour to hour. For unbeatable landscapes? Nepal. Best food? Thailand. Biggest adventures? Patagonia. History and culture? Central Europe. But we can swap all of those places around and they’d still provide justifiable answers for each and every question.
Nizamuddin
However, I was recently asked a more nuanced question, for which I can provide a more reliable answer.
“Where would you most like to go and just sit?”
In my experience, anywhere is a good place to just sit. Just sitting is underrated. But one place I especially enjoy simply sitting, watching, and listening is the tomb of the Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi; the Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah.
The Dargah
The Dargah is a white domed mausoleum in the centre of a maze-like complex. Devotees (men only) enter the mausoleum to pray and to drape colourfully embroidered cloths over the tomb. Women must remain outside.
Surrounding the tomb of Nizamuddin are many more Sufi graves, a labyrinth of alleyways and shops, and the sumptuous, red sandstone mosque, Jamat Khana Masjid.
Qawwali
Above the sound of enthusiastic conversations, children’s laughter, spoken prayers and general hubbub, the sound of Qawwali, devotional music from the Islamic Sufi tradition, fills the air. Qawwali is traditionally performed by the sons of qawwali performers, who pass the songs onto their sons in turn.
“It is soaring, healing, penetrating music that rips the sky open, slowly revealing the radiant face of the beloved.”
I’ve compiled a very short compilation of sounds I’ve recorded at Nizamuddin. It includes two examples of qawwali devotional singing but begins with the most hauntingly beautiful call to prayer, recorded inside the Jamat Khana Masjid.
Call to Prayer and Qawwali Audio Recording
I gently encourage you to find some headphones, close your eyes, and devote just 60 seconds of your time to listen to this extraordinary voice, if only to appreciate the acoustics inside the mosque.
Women and Qawwali
Coincidentally, or because he’s psychic, as I was writing this, I received an email from my friend Sandy with a link to this exquisite Tiny Desk concert by Arooj Aftab.
Not only does it provide an opportunity for a woman to be part of the story(!), it also leads me nicely to the “King of Kings”, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The first song in Arooj Aftab’s YouTube concert is a version of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan classic, Yeh Jo Halak Saroor Hae.
I’ve compiled a short qawwali-inspired playlist, including Jeff Buckley’s impromptu live version of Yeh Jo Halak Saroor Hae. Click the cassette to activate.
If you listen to Buckley’s Live at Sin-é album, you’ll hear him speak about his love for the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
“Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his ensemble do not play music. They are the music. [His] voice is singing like it is the last sound you’ll hear before you float away to heaven… That guttural silver flame of melody and ecstasy is shooting from the throat of a man who is so deep inside the music that he no longer exists.”
— Jeff Buckley
Although it is historically a male-dominated tradition, qawwali is arguably never more impressive than when performed by women. There are initiatives working to promote women’s participation in the genre, such as the Sama School of Music in Bali.
Here’s another performance by the Ilahi Sufi Qawwali ensemble.
Portraits
As well as sitting, watching, and listening, Nizamuddin provides plenty of opportunities for friendly portraits.
The portrait at the top of this edition is from Fatehpur Masjid a nearby mosque. As is often the case in India, friends who are keen to be included in a photograph are happy to sneak into the frame.
The Lifeboat Station Project
I recently wrote about passion projects and impressive labours of love. Jack Lowe’s Lifeboat Station Project falls squarely into those definitions.
The Lifeboat Station Project also ties in neatly with the recent newsletter edition which featured the Shipping Forecast.
Jack Lowe’s epic mission is to photograph all 238 Royal National Lifeboat Institution stations.
Driving a decommissioned ambulance called, appropriately, Neena, Jack has been driving around Great Britain and Northern Ireland, photographing the lifeboat crews and stations on a Victorian glass plate camera.
This short film made by the RNLI in 2016 explains more about Jack’s labour of love.
Jack Lowe’s Lifeboat Station project resonates with me for a number of reasons. Many years ago, and for a very short time, I was a volunteer member of the Yarmouth RNLI lifeboat crew. My main job involved being winched down from a Coastguard helicopter onto the deck of a moving lifeboat during training exercises — and trying not to drown.
That brief experience taught me that the job of a lifeboat crew member was best left to people much more sensible and considerably braver than me.
Jack says that the idea for the Lifeboat Station project came when he was searching for something that would take him away from sitting in front of a computer all day.
He considered what he felt most passionate about and wrote these words on a piece of paper:
— Photography
— Lifeboats
— The Sea
That scrap of paper was the seed of Jack’s Lifeboat Station project.
I love the profound simplicity of that. A scrap of paper and the question, “What do I love?”
Who knows what paths might be revealed should we be brave enough to carry out that simple exercise?
Jack wrote to supporters of the project recently, explaining that he’d made the difficult decision to stop creating new work and to concentrate on the production of a much-anticipated coffee table book.
I know I’m not the only supporter who greatly admires Jack’s devotion to his project, not to mention the extraordinary photographs he has created.
You can read more on the Lifeboat Station Project website.
You can also see photographs from the project at the National Maritime Museum, where the Women of the RNLI exhibition is showing until the 1st of December, 2024.
If you would like — and are able — to support a photographer’s admirable labour of love, full membership of the Lifeboat Station Project Society is available for a very modest £1 per month.
Beyond the Frame Housekeeping
I have some trips and assignments coming up so this will be the last newsletter until I return. Paid subscriptions will be extended free of charge so this would be a good time to subscribe and get extended access to archived editions.
I’m looking forward to photographing behind-the-scenes at Europe’s first TED conference on artificial intelligence, not least because it will take me back to Vienna for a few days.
I’ve really enjoyed the first few months of writing Beyond the Frame newsletters and am very grateful for the generous feedback and encouraging comments. Thank you.
This is probably a good point to solicit your thoughts about the Beyond the Frame newsletter. Is there something in particular you have enjoyed? Is there something you’d like to see more of? Something you’d like to see less of? Do you have any requests for specific content? Your feedback and (gentle) comments will be gratefully received. Probably.
I have a growing list of things to share when I return, including news of free portfolio reviews for paid subscribers!
In the meantime, go well, and may you find the very best light, always.
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Affiliate Links: I occasionally share links to photography books, camera gear and other resources. 100% of funds raised from affiliate links are donated to Kiva, a micro-loan NGO supporting underserved communities.
Gavin, It always fills me with joy to receive your newsletter. I confess I sometimes keep it unread, until I have an opportunity to sit at a coffee shop and take the right amount of time to walk through it. I always bring headphones, just in case.
Another side effect is that the mountain of books by my bedside table has been increasing! I'm currently enjoying The Passionate Photographer, and was surprised to learn that Steve Simon is not only a fellow Canadian but he worked here in Edmonton for years! What a great coincidence.
And finally, I wanted to share that if I could go and sit somewhere right now, it would no doubt be one of those small public sitting spaces in Bhaktapur. I'd pretend I'm reading a newspaper, though in truth, I'd be waiting for the next edition of your newsletter to arrive.
Just keep doing what you are doing. Every newsletter strikes a chord because it is so genuine and personal. It expands my mind in so many ways through images, music, sound clips, profiles of people’s projects and more. It inspires creativity. Thanks!