The impression of Music came into the life of Sufi Bawra because of his mother who was a devotee and Guru Dharan disciple of Kabir Panth Gharana. Sufi Bawra learned Hindustani classical music from Pandit Vinaya Chandra Maudgalya ‘Bhai Ji’, Pandit Vasant Thakar and Pandit Madhup Mudgal at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, New Delhi, where he also taught classical music for about 30 years and yet associated with it. He also blessed to learn music tips from Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki & Pandit Kumar Gandharva from time to time, he also learned ‘Sufiana tips’ from Ustad Asar Saheb. Mr. Bawra also impressed with the style of great Sufi singers- Ustad Shankar Shambhu, Ustad Habib Pentar & Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saheb.

SAFAR-E-MUSICQUEE:
HINDUSTAN TO AFGHANISTAN

Sufi Bawra has travelled and rendered his performance all over the country. He also went to Afghanistan to represent India through I.C.C.R. from July 2007 to August 2009 (2 years) to train Afghani students for Hindustani classical music, folk music & Sufiana music.

In July, 2007, Sufi Bawra felt great honored to represent India by appointed as a ‘Teacher/performer’ of Music to represent our country in Afghanistan through I.C.C.R., Govt. of India. To open a Cultural Centre in this war raged country, was a challenge, but he accepted this challenge for the honour of his country. On 14th September, 2007, Indian Cultural Centre with the help of I.C.C.R. was opened in Kabul and Sufi Bawra was the first artist to perform on the inauguration of Centre. Sufi Bawra prepared the Practical and Theory syllabus with notations and taught and release the music notes for students to enable them to learn music systemically. Sufi Bawra taught Indian classical music, Sufiana, folk & Sufi Nirgun music to Afghani students. Sufi Bawra performed there in many programmes of music combined with mixture of Indian and Afghani Music which was appreciated by the people of Afghanistan. With the help of ardent Afghani students, Indian Music was promoted against all odds. Under the guidance of Sufi Bawra, the group of Afghani students, Sufiana Music was performed in Embassy of India (Kabul). India House (Kabul). On 9/1/2008, Sufi Bawra got an opportunity to meet the Hon’ble President of Afghanistan, Shri Hamid Karzai and he appreciated his efforts to promote the music in Afghanistan. This meeting was reported in India Review magazine.

Sufi Bawra performed on some special occasions like 26th January and 15th August and he got tile “AFGHANI-E-HIND ‘SUFI BAWRA” from the citizens of Afghanistan,he has worked under the guidance of Mr. Rakesh Sood, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan from July 2007 to January, 2008 and later on under Mr. Jayant Prasad, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan. Especially with the kind support of Mr. Rakesh Sood, Sufi Bawra got the opportunity to perform at Afghani T.V. – “TOLO”, where his performances were regularly telecasted for a year.

It was first time in the history of Afghanistan, when ‘Gandhi Jayanti’ was celebrated on 2nd October, 2007 under the able guidance of Sufi Bawra, who presented ‘Vaishnav Jana To’ and ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ each tradition eliciting tremendous applause from the gathering in the auditorium of 103 years old HABIBIA SCHOOL, which was well covered by Media & telecasted on Television also. Sufi Bawra was well appreciated by the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, Rakesh Sood (Indian Ambassador) and Mr. Sandeep Kumar (Deputy Chief of Mission) along with many great personalities of Afghanistan.

After 10th January,2008, Shri Jayant Prasad became the Ambassador of India at Kabul and appreciated Sufi Bawra’s work on music and gave extra ordinary comments by encouraging him to go ahead to achieve the goal. During his stay in Afghanistan, his main motto was to promote the friendship between India and Afghanistan through music and these emotions were appreciated by all and particularly by Mr. Jayant Prasad, the Ambassador of India during this period.

Though at present, back in India, Sufi Bawra has lot of chances to give his music performance in Afghanistan at any time and his efforts will be to promote the friendship between these two countries with music.

SAFAR-E-MUSICQUEE:
NEPAL (SPECIAL)

On the occasion of 61st celebration of India’ s Republic Day, Embassy of India, Kathmandu (Nepal) and B.P. Koirala India Nepal Academy organized ‘Sufiana Mehfil - presented by SUFI BAWRA at Army Officers’ Club on 25th January, 2010 in which he performed Sufiana Kalaam in Urdu, Farsi, Afghani and other dialects.

Sufi Bawra was in Afghanistan as a representative of India for Music during July, 2007 – August, 2009. He worked there under the guidance of Shri Rakesh Sood, the then Ambassador of India in Afghanistan. At present, Shri Rakesh Sood is Ambassador of India at Nepal. Shri Rakesh Sood introduced Sufi Bawra and appreciated his efforts to bring together India, Afghanistan and Nepal through music.

On 25th January, 2010 in the packed Auditorium of Army Officer’s Club, the performance of Sufi Bawra was attended by Ministers, Chief of Army, Senior Government Officials and other dignitaries and music loving people of Nepal. This programme was covered by Print & Electronic Media and a wide coverage was given in prominent Newspapers viz. Annapurna Post, The Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan, Nagrik, Kantipur & Gorkha Express etc. At the end of the programme - Mr. Rakesh Sood facilitated the artists. On 26th January, 2010, Sufi Bawra performed in Indian House, Kathmandu, Nepal where Hindi & Urdu devotional music made the audience spell bound.