Sheikh Yasin al-Tuhami

Inshad is not a concert form. A line of verse is opened out, turned and returned to, and how long it lasts depends on the night and on the people standing there. The ensemble follows the voice rather than a score, and the text comes from the classical Arabic Sufi poets rather than from anything written for the occasion.

A mawlid is the yearly gathering at the shrine of a saint. People come to visit the tomb, to eat, to sit together, and to listen until morning, and the singing belongs to that setting rather than to a stage.