Qawwali singer Yusuf Khan giving his presentation at The Neemrana Music Foundation at the Neemrana Fort Palace.

Yousuf Khan Nizami, born in 1974, is a talented singer in Sufi style singing as well as modern Qawwali singing. He belongs to famous Sikandrabad Gharana which includes various legendary singers like Ustad Qudratullah Khan Sahab and Ustad Kifayatullah Khan Sahab. Being the son of Aziz Uz Zaman Khan, he is maternal grand son and nephew of Padmabhushan Ustad Haji Altaf Hussain Khan and Ustad Wahid Hussain Khan (Prabhudas) respectively of Khurja Gharana who also have top most Classical Vocalists as well as Dhrupadiyas since 750 years. He got professional training from Famous Qawwal Ustad Ghulam Sabir Nizami, his elder brother, as well as from his another maternal uncle Ustad Mumtaz Ahmed Khan. Also, his ancestors are affiliated and attached with the Dargahs of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia and Hazrat Amir Khusro in Delhi.

Yousuf Khan Nizami was awarded by Urdu Academy-Delhi in recitation of Ghazal in school at Jama Masjid, Delhi, as well as recitation of Naat-E-Rasool, in Persian, of Mirza Ghalib at Ghalib Academy, Delhi at his 212th Birth Anniversary Celebrations. He has performed at IGNCA, New Delhi in Annual Day Function (Basant Panchmi), a traditional festival of Hazarat Amir Khusro. Also, he performed in various cities of Indian States including Delhi, Maharashtra, Bengal, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Apart from this Yousuf Khan Nizami went abroad to perform in various programmes organized by I.C.C.R in other countries including Pakistan, Srilanka, Mauritius, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, England, Spain, Holland, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.

Till now he has recorded in 12 cassette albums of famous Music companies including Music FM, Max Music among various others. Also, he has performed at various popular television channels like Etv Urdu, Zee News, Zee Jagran, Zee Salaam, Sahara Samay, Sahara Samay NCR (Special Programme on Ramzaan Mubarak), Pragya, VOICE of INDIA CHANNEL, DD Urduand Doordarshan. He especially performed on MH1 in a memorial program for legendry Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and can be seen on the given link below. India Today newspaper and magazine has featured his interviews in 2005 and 2008, performed at Dhanak Din Nehru Bal Mela organize by Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, Delhi in 2010. He has performed in Rang Tarang Festival organized by Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi and "Eid Ki Sham Sufiyana Qawwali Ke Naam" by Lok Kala Manch, Delhi in August 2011. He has given live performance at DD national Channel on Evening Live Shows. Recently performed at "Dastaan-e-Delhi"for ICCR on the occasion of 100 years celebration on becoming Delhi as Capital of India. Recently performed at FICCI Auditorium for ICCR on 2nd International Sufi Festival 2012.

Qawwali is a form of devotional singing bifurcated from Khayaal singing and rooted in the mystical tradition of the Sufism where music is a powerful spiritual realization. A number of representatives of various traditional Gharanas excelled in the Qawwali Singing which has become part and parcel of the strong Musical Tradition of our Country (Hzt Amir Khusro, Qawwal bacchay music traditions) Yousuf Khan Nizami belongs to the same sect of Qawwali singers.

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and [email protected].