Orchestral Qawwali Project's Rushil Ranjan on the 'limitless sonic possibilities' of Sufi and orchestral music

Orchestral Qawwali Project (OQP) is set to bring Sufi music to the Royal Albert Hall next week with a special one-off collaboration with the National Youth Chamber Choir, London Voices and Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. Billed as Orchestral Qawwali's ‘most exciting show to date’ and featuring Indian Classical dancers including Aakash Odedra and Vidya Patel, the show will present Sufi music in orchestral arrangements to reach OQP’s ultimate goal: to ‘lead the listener to spiritual rapture'.

CM caught up with composer and arranger Rushil Ranjan, who founded the project alongside singer Abi Sampa, to find out more about what audiences can expect from Monday’s performance.

(Image courtesy of OQP)

OQP has performed with orchestras around the world and your upcoming show (27 May) will see you collaborate with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. What sort of challenges have arisen as musicians trained in the Western Classical style turn their attention to qawwali compositions?

Qawwali, particularly in the 20th century, really adopted Indian Classical improvisation, virtuosity and variable structuring in its pieces. As a result, listeners would never hear a piece played in structurally the same way twice. I think finding a way to create that sense of unpredictable energy and movement in pieces whilst still creating effective scores (that can be rehearsed with a new ensemble only 3 hours before a performance!) was a challenge.

There isn’t really a roadmap to making this work, so it’s been a wonderful process of discovery. I see each performance with an orchestra as a new opportunity to try to go that little bit further in blurring the lines between the genres and trying to improve based on what has previously worked (and what didn’t, on occasion!) As a result, I’m constantly given the opportunity to rewrite and tweak, which as a composer is both brilliant and awful at the same time!

The central reason this all works however, is because of just how brilliant classical musicians – across both western and eastern disciplines – are. I still find it absolutely astounding how much British orchestras can draw from 90 minutes of repertoire with just a 3 hour rehearsal. Further, homegrown Indian Classical musicians in this country play at the very highest of standards. The wonderful thing is these musicians have grown up in each other’s orbit, which means when they come to look at music that I’ve written they already understand each other and understand it. It’s difficult to overstate just how important that has been to the development of these works.

You’ll also be working with the London Voices and the National Youth Chamber Choir, how do you work with these ensembles to achieve the sound your looking for?

The choral element of this project is really close to my heart. I think what binds these two classical traditions together, in spite of all of their challenging differences, is their inherent connection with spirituality and divinity. Nothing quite encapsulates that connection as much as the choral pieces in these works. It’s also relatively uncharted territory so it’s been a wonderful experience exploring it with the brilliant Ben Parry (director of London Voices).

I remember the first time I wrote for a Sufi singer plus choir was for our Orchestral Qawwali show at the Camden Roundhouse last year. The first time those eight singers from London Voices began singing at rehearsal the entire room was transfixed. Now, to be able to do this with the National Youth Chamber Choir and London Voices is one of the things I’m most excited about for this show. I cannot wait to hear it at rehearsal!

(Image courtesy of OQP)

Your own work involves composing music across contemporary, Sufi and classical genres – how did your own experiences inform your approach when working with these ensembles?

My journey into this has been somewhat unconventional! I didn’t grow up surrounded by Western or Indian Classical Music. I taught myself the guitar at an early age and I thought my musical future (if I was lucky enough to have one) would be in rock or pop music.

I wasn’t lucky enough to study music at university either. I ended up doing a law degree at Oxford (which, at the time, I was tremendously ungrateful for!) but whilst there, I met a set of incredible Indian Classical musicians who introduced me to the artform and to qawwali.

I remember the first time I heard qawwali. It was an old recording of Ustad (an equivalent title to maestro) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It was transformative. There was something so intangibly potent and spiritual about it, in addition to being incredibly virtuosic. More than anything else, however, it was a really universal sound.

Abi (Sampa) and I began the process of trying to create qawwali recordings in 2019. I had always felt that orchestral elements would really add to the music we were making. There was something so operatic about the way that she and other qawwals rendered Sufi poetry.

Knowing next to nothing about classical music, my journey began by creating pop-style string arrangements over our initial recordings. I’d work with single cellists or small ensembles and sing lines to them for them to record. I’d then layer these recordings to create my version of a score. In 2021 however, we were asked to perform the pieces live with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. I had to, in a matter of 3 months, convert what I’d created into a functional orchestral score. Creating those scores and teaching myself how to write was a steep learning curve to say the least. But again, thanks to an incredible set of performers and the brilliant conductor Clark Rundell, the performance went really well and a clip of it went viral on social media shortly after.

From that point on I found myself inexplicably drawn into the classical world. As someone who didn’t grow up with it, discovering just how limitless the sonic possibilities are and just how universal the sound can be has been a transformative experience. I’m always so deeply grateful and excited every time I get to be in a room with an orchestra.

It was around this time that a friend showed me Mahler’s 2nd Symphony. That was the second recording that changed my life. I think I’ve watched the recording of Leonard Bernstein conducting it at Ely Cathedral over a 100 times since – even before Bradley Cooper included it in Maestro!

Coming into both of these artforms with no background and having to teach myself has been incredibly challenging. But in some ways I think it’s been really wonderful. I feel a bit like a kid discovering all of these things for the first time. I’m now writing new works for Manchester Camerata, the CBSO and the Firdaus orchestra that incorporate both styles. There’s definitely child-like excitement that comes with that!

(Image courtesy of OQP)

Your upcoming show promises to be Orchestral Qawwali's ‘most exciting show to date’ – what can audiences expect from this performance?

From show to show I’m always trying to refine the particular combination of classical forms that we have. In this show we’re blurring boundaries between genres more than we ever have. The scale of this show is also what sets it apart. We’ve never performed with this number of performers on stage (over 100!).

We also are getting to explore the Indian Classical Dance element of what we do in ways that we haven’t before. Aakash Odedra and Vidya Patel, who are two of the most gifted dance artists in the country are both choreographing group pieces specifically for this show and I’m so excited to see them come to life. We’ve gathered the best performers across so many genres and we’re all working with the incredible team at the RAH to pull together something really special.

Each OQP performance aims to ‘lead the listener to spiritual rapture’ – something which classical audiences will strongly relate to – how does this manifest in each performance?

One of the most wonderful things I’ve discovered through this process is just how similar spiritual music is across different traditions and parts of the world. Whilst totally different in terms of their practical execution and style, they all share this intangible numinous quality. It doesn’t really have any particular temporal setting and it’s difficult to describe, but I think we’re hardwired to recognise these sounds when we hear them. They help us connect with universal values that we share.

I think my job is to try to demonstrate these connections as best as can be done. By doing that I think we can experience spirituality in music in a new and yet familiar way. There’s still so much to discover and to refine. But every now and then, (especially when working with the incredible musicians that I’ve been fortunate enough to share space with) I think it comes across.

The RAH show is a special one-off performance for OQP. Where are you planning/hoping to take OQP in the future?

We’ve got some exciting concerts coming up. We’re set to perform across the country and internationally with a host of different ensembles over the next 6 months. We’re also set to perform two concerts with the brilliant City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) as part of their season next year and I’m writing a new work for them that will premiere in November. We’ll be releasing an album in collaboration with the CBSO soon too, which I’m so, so excited about!