Ghulam Farid Sabri

The Sabri Brothers originally consisted of Ghulam Farid Sabri (1928-1994), born in Haryana, and Maqbool Ahmad Shah Sabri (1945-), born in Kalyan. Sabri Brothers proudly associate their lineage with Mian Tansen. They were taught music by their father, Ustad Haji Inayat Sabri. According to Maqbool Farid Sabri, who learned qawwali from Ustad Ramzan Khan and Ata Muhammad Shah, he belongs to the Banu Hashim tribe of Saudi Arabia. Maqbool Ahmed Sabri formed his first party of qawwals at the age of 11; soon afterwards in 1956 he joined his elder brother Ghulam Farid Sabri, who had been singing with Kallan Khan Qawwal and was known as a man of immense spirituality and considered by many to be a saint.

Ghulam Farid and Maqbool Farid performed all over the world. They introduced musical instruments in qawwali such as Bongo, Chiriya Tarang, Sitar, Surmandal, Dholak, and Tabla. They are known to be the first to introduce qawwali to the West in 1975, when they performed to a sold-out audience at New York's Carnegie Hall. Their fame reached such heights that in 1982, Indira Gandhi, who was the Prime Minister of India, banned the brothers from performing, saying that they were not doing qawwali but preaching Islam, as many people had converted. The Emperor of Nepal listened to their qawwali for 90 minutes instead of the scheduled 15 minutes at a marriage ceremony in Nepal.

Sabri Brothers also contributed to the film industry as many of their qawwalis were used in films. Both were awarded the Pride of Performance by General Zia-ul-Haq.