The Wadali brothers have a special quality to their singing and its this quality which sets them apart from others. Puran Chand Wadali and Pyare Lal Wadali began singing as children. Puran Chand being the elder one (he is 13 years older than his brother) was initiated into music when he was five years old, and he didn't like it at all. So, how did this dislike change into a mad passion? "My father, Shri Thakur Das initiated me into singing.

He was really strict and would often beat me when I didn't sing. In fact, I remember getting my hair cropped close because he always pulled my hair when I didn't sing. Once sang as a child and people gave me money, I thought, that was a nice thing and began learning in earnest. But once I got involved with learning, there was nothing that could stop me. The more I learnt, the more I enjoyed it."

His younger brother Pyare Lal, had it easier. He liked singing right from the time he was a child. And of course his elder brother and father were always there for him. The duo then also got training from Pt Durga Das of Amritsar, Ustads Ashiq Ali Khan, Machchan Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan.

Talking to them you discover, they still live in the simple world of their village, Guru Ki Wadali in Punjab. Confesses the elder Wadali: "I haven't seen a movie ever, nor do I see television. I simply don't feel the need for it. Changa nahin lagda", he says in Punjabi.

And though the duo have never gone to school, one can see in them a knowledge of a different kind. Rendering the qalaams of Sufi saints like Bulleh Shah, Khwaja Ghulam Farid, Baba Shah Hussain and Baba Farid, the Wadalis have seen to it that the message of love and brotherhood does not remain in books.

And their efforts have not gone unnoticed. The President's Award and Sangeet Natak Akademi award are just two of the many awards that the duo have received. But they are so devoted to theIr music and the Sufi world, that awards do not delight them. They prefer to maintain a low profile and remain in their own world.

And what do they think about the new kind of music? Says the younger Wadali "The new music is like a firework which will burn in no time. Devotional music is like an incense stick, the perfume of which will linger on."And the perfume does linger on.