TRANSCENDER BENDER ; William Dalrymple, Writer and Historian, Explains Why He Is Bringing a Roadshow of Ganja-Smoking Tantric Madmen, a 'Possession Dancer' and a Sufi Singer from Southern India to the Barbican This Weekend

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TRAVELLING in the deserts of Sindh a few years ago, i came across the extraordinary music of the Shah Jo raag Fakirs. These men live together in a Sufi brotherhood in the shrine of Bhit Shah, and are custodians of one of the greatest and most unusual mystical traditions in South asia. every day they sing the verses of the greatest poet in the Sindhi language, the 18thcentury Sufi master, Shah abdul latif of Bhit Shah.

latif is Sindh's most revered saint. He came from a relatively orthodox Muslim background but during his youth, on the rebound from a failed love affair, he set off wandering through Sindh and rajasthan in the company of a group of Hindu sadhus and nath …