{"id":3532,"date":"2026-05-23T21:12:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=3532"},"modified":"2026-05-23T21:12:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T21:12:24","slug":"country-music-pakistan-mo-sabri-nashville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=3532","title":{"rendered":"This country star brings a Pakistani vibe to his songs : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Singer-songwriter Mo Sabri loves country music \u2014 and Pakistani devotional music. His new music reflects both genres.
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Mo Sabri<\/p>\n

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Mo Sabri<\/p>\n

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When the singer-songwriter Mo Sabri<\/u><\/a> was growing up in East Tennessee, his Pakistani immigrant parents loved playing the swirling, rhythmic sounds of qawwali<\/em>, Sufi Muslim devotional music.<\/p>\n

They also loved playing country classics by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. After all, Johnson City, Sabri’s hometown, is a 30-minute drive from Bristol, Tenn., known as the birthplace of country music.<\/p>\n

Those musical influences would have a profound effect on Sabri. Today, he is a country music artist in Nashville who proudly identifies as a Pakistani American and a Muslim \u2014 and creates music drawing from those worlds. On his YouTube channel, you’ll find original country songs like “Married in a Barn<\/u><\/a>” but also a cover of the qawwali “Tajdar e Haram<\/u><\/a>.”<\/p>\n