Ustad Naseeruddin Saami & The Saami Brothers with Anil Prasad

SAMA: Music + Art presents:

Ustad Naseeruddin Saami & The Saami Brothers with Anil Prasad

Ustad Saami is the only known living practitioner of a 49-note microtonal scale, a musical system that predates Islam and stretches back thousands of years. His voice is an instrument of history, prayer, and resistance, keeping alive a sacred art form that is on the edge of extinction. At nearly 80 years old, this Pakistani maestro continues to tour and inspire with a voice that embodies the devotional intensity of Sufi philosophy, blending languages, spiritual lineages, and musical traditions.

The Saami Brothers, Ustad Saami’s four sons and disciples, have spent the last month sharing this legacy across the U.S., from New York to Chicago, and now bring it to Seattle in a rare West Coast performance. Their dynamic interplay weaves deep-rooted Khayal and Qawwali elements into a sound that is at once ancient and immediate.

Anil Prasad began playing percussion at the age of seven and accompanied his mother, Prabha Devi, a famous Indian vocalist and sitar player. He was recruited to the Husky Drumline out of high school and became the Husky Drumline section leader for two consecutive years. Anil is a student of tabla masters Tor Dietrichson, Ustad Akram Khan, and Ustad Zakir Hussain and records and performs with many Western, world music, and Indian groups in Seattle and beyond.