Falsa

Sufi Music | Invoking Meditation, Conversation & Transcendence | As Featured on NPR and Acclaimed Performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and More.

FOLLOW US TO STAY UPDATED! INSTAGRAM.COM/FALSAMUSIC

Purchase our Album “ American Sufi ” HERE ON BANDCAMP!

and LISTEN ON SPOTIFY: TINYURL.COM/FALSPOTIFY

Based in New York City, Falsa is rooted in 14th century Sufi music (Indian classical mysticism similar to Rumi's elevating poetry) with contemporary arrangements transcending genre-specificity and cultural preconceptions, in collaboration with a diverse array of improvisational world musicians.

A Falsa experience can range from Minimalist Meditative to Raga Jazz Fusion to high energy World Improvisation that gets you moving, to a more explosive Ritual-Communitas oriented one featuring dancers and immersive visuals. But ultimately, Falsa is about normalizing the transcendent experience.

It originally emerged as a collaboration between long-term friends and has since evolved into an exploration of what's possible when people are moved collectively by the pursuit of the intangible aspects of a communal gathering. There's a mystical culinary connection here: Falsa gets its name from a tropical berry native to India and Pakistan. And Sufi music is about a state of separation that longs for union. There was a decade in Umer's (vocalist, Falsa) life that he couldn’t return home to Pakistan from the US due to Kafkaesque immigration bureaucracies. When he finally returned and had the fruit again, it "broke through all the intellectualization and numbness I realized I had cultivated to cope, and in the process of giving myself over to the majesty of feeling I realized that home is something you cannot take with you, you have to return to it"

In our music, we want to revere and dignify the most magical aspects of experience that are gifts and not acquisitions, like reclaiming a half-remembered dream. Our music is not about means to ends, but about meaning and transcendence, about healing a wounded alienation we feel in our very highly mechanized, and in the ways that matter, poorly connected society, one performance at a time.

BOOKINGS/CONTACT: FALSA@FALSAMUSIC.COM

Back to All Events

Riverside Park NYC Presents: Amplified Sundays feat. Falsa (FREE SHOW)

  • Summer on the Hudson Pier I, 500 W 70th St, Riverside Park New York, NY 10023 USA (map)

Enjoy vibrantly-danceable live music accompanied by spectacular sunsets over the Hudson River! Amplified Sundays take place each Sunday in July.

July 9th:  Falsa
Based in New York City and under the “Falsa” banner, a diverse array of improvisational World musicians rooted in 14th century Sufi music (Indian/Persian classical mysticism similar to Rumi’s elevating poetry) offer experiences that range from Minimalist Meditative to Raga Jazz Fusion to high energy World Improvisation that gets you moving. Through music, Falsa communicates reverence for the most magical aspects of experience that are gifts and not acquisitions, as Sufi music is not about means to ends, but about meaning and transcendence.

Summer on the Hudson events are free and open to the public. Seating is limited, unreserved, and available on a first-come, first-served basis. If there is heavy rain at the time of the event, the event will be canceled. For weather updates, check nyc.gov/parks/soh 2 hours before the event.

Earlier Event: July 5
Falsa at Little Island NYC (The Glade)
Later Event: July 12
Falsa at Little Island NYC (The Glade)