The Town Hall and Vagabond Media announced For The Love Of God!, a cross-tradition concert set for Thursday, October 30, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. at The Town Hall in New York City. The program features Pakistan’s Ustad Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad Qawwal Brothers with Damien Sneed and his Chorale Le Château.
The evening pairs South Asian qawwali with Southern gospel, framing an exchange across faiths and cultures. Ustad Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad bring a leading qawwali lineage, while Sneed, an award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist, leads the choir through gospel repertoire. The collaboration positions the music at the intersection of world music and American sacred traditions.
The event is presented by The Town Hall (Matt Goldman, executive director; Melay Araya, artistic director) in partnership with Vagabond Media (Nusrat Durrani and Shazia Choudri). Organizers describe the concert as a shared celebration of devotion and community through voice and ensemble.
“For The Love Of God! will bring together virtuosos from two of the world’s most influential musical traditions. Qawwali and Black American Gospel are both religious, text-based art forms that demand mastery from their practitioners and full attention from their audiences. On October 30th, The Town Hall will be aflame with excitement, ecstasy, and joy!” said The Town Hall’s Melay Araya.
Vagabond Media’s Shazia Choudri added “This night feels especially magical because we are staging it in our beloved New York—a city of multitudes—in a historic venue that unites communities through a shared love of music.”
For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit www.thetownhall.org/events.
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central