Dhruv Sanghari

Dhruv Sanghari

Dhruv Sanghari also known as Bilal Chishty Sangari is a Sufi and Classical Indian vocalist, composer, lyricist, savant and teacher. He is the son of well-known scholar and author Kumkum Sangari and noted painter Mahendra ‘Manu’ Sangari.
Born in 1981, Dhruv began his training in Hindustani classical music at the age of seven with Shahana Bannerjee and continued under Ustad Iqbal Ahmad Khan. He also trained in the tabla from Pandit B.S. Ramanna. Later, he developed an interest in Sufism and Sufi music and started learning qawwali from Ustad Meraj Ahmed Nizami of the Qawwal-Bachhe Gharana at the dargah of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi.

His journey in music led him to discover Pakistani Qawwali maestro Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whom he eventually met and learnt from in the mid 1990s.

Having completed his studies in Hindustani classical music from the University of Delhi under such musical stalwarts as Dr. Krishna Bisht, Dr. Najma Parveen Ahmad and Ustad Ghulam Sadiq Khan, Dhruv went on to become a full-time concert and recording artiste and has been performing with various bands since 2000. During this period he anchored a 25 episode series based on Indian classical Ragas ‘Tarang ki Mehfil’ broadcast on ETV Urdu.

A decade ago a chance meeting with Syed Salman Chishty and Syed Dr. Peer Najmul Hassan Chishty led him down the spiritual path and he took hand with the latter in the city of Ajmer, thus being formally inducted into the Chishti Sufi Order. During his travels across the world as a musician he also became close to Sheikh Ibrahim Farajaje and Sheikh Muhammad bin Yahya al-Ninowy. A follower of Sufi Islam, Dhruv remains an active voice on issues of Sufism and Sufi Culture and regularly performs offerings at various Sufi shrines across the Indian Subcontinent. His spouse is Anam Hassan, whom he married in 2016.