Falsa

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

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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

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3-Day San Francisco Sufi Tour w/ Umer (Vocalist, Falsa)


  • Grace Cathedral 1100 California Street San Francisco, CA, 94108 United States (map)

Embark on a 3-Day Sufi journey with Umer (Vocalist, Falsa), harmonizing ancient Sufi music and contemporary improvisations.

Start at San Francisco's historic Sherith Israel, one of the oldest synagogues in the US and San Francisco's most beautiful building, on June 24th: World Folk Jam (Summer Solstice Event) in the Small Chapel: 6:00 PM | Falsa (Sufi Music)

follow us to the enchanting Alchemy House on the 25th: An Intimate Evening with Falsa

and conclude with a soulful Soundbath at Grace Cathedral on the 26th.

Each venue offers a unique chapter in this musical odyssey. Secure your spot for this transcendent tour today by following the links above!