If words come out of the heart they enter the heart. If they come out from the tongue, they do not pass beyond the ears” goes a Sufi saying and Sufi music seeking to discover truth by deepening one’s relationship with the creator is steeped in mysticism and poetry that emerges from the heart. It is this quality that makes Sufi music universal and beyond narrow divisions says Smita Bellur, the country’s first female Hindustani vocalist who has been accepted into the lineage of traditional Qawaals.

Source: The music of the soul