Qawwali is Sufi devotional singing from South Asia, performed to bring listeners into wajd, a state of spiritual ecstasy, and closer to God through dhikr, the remembrance of God. Its origins are usually traced to the 13th-century poet and musician Amir Khusrau, a disciple of the Chishti saint Nizamuddin Auliya, who built it on Indian ragas and on Persian and Hindavi poetry. The songs praise God, the Prophet Muhammad and Sufi saints, and they often borrow images of wine and romantic longing as metaphors for divine love. Traditionally sung without instruments by hereditary performers at shrines, it later added harmonium, tabla and dholak. In the late 20th century, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Sabri Brothers carried it to audiences far beyond South Asia.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.