Umer grew up in Multan, Pakistan, a city known for it's 14th century Sufi saints and their shrines. At 18, Piracha moved to the US and began his studies at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster PA, where he enjoyed playing guitar and gravitated toward singing covers of bands like Radiohead. But at the same time, he developed a longing for home. He recalls connecting with other friends from Pakistan who shared this experience. They'd eat Pakistani food together and spend a lot of time listening to traditionally Sufi music, specifically that of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, one of Pakistan's most renowned singers. Now Umer primarily performs for his 14th Century Sufi Chamber Fusion Ensemble Falsa. www.falsamusic.com // Facebook-IG-Twitter: @falsamusic
Sufi music is a language around love and ecstasy, that is fundamental to the human experience, an abiding recognition of the astonishing complexity of being human. It is a tenderness around the most important, deeply felt emotional and psychological needs, and a cultural mechanism whereby satisfying these does not have to be a struggle.