NASHVILLE — Country music artist Mo Sabri will perform with the Nashville Symphony on May 31, with the orchestra presenting an orchestral rendition of his new album Tennessee Desi. The album blends Appalachian country sounds with qawwali, a musical performance of Sufi Muslim poetry that infuses singing, handclaps and drumbeats.

Sabri, a Pakistani American Muslim singer-songwriter based in Nashville, grew up in East Tennessee as the child of Pakistani immigrants. His father immigrated to the United States in the 1970s and his mother arrived in the 1980s. At home, his parents played qawwali music alongside country classics by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. "The music would always get people dancing and clapping," he said.

"This is a really big deal," said Charles Alexander, a digital strategist.

"In a way, it's a reflection of who I am as a first-generation American, who's half-country, half-desi," Sabri said. He noted that "'Desi' refers to those from the South Asian diaspora." The word qawwali comes from the Arabic word qaul, meaning "to speak."

Tennessee Desi includes a cover of the bluegrass song "Rocky Top" and a qawwali called "Allah Hoo," which tells Islam's creation story. Religion is a recurring theme in both Appalachian country and qawwali music. He said he may be distantly related to the Sabri Brothers and "felt a responsibility to eventually try to honor the genre." He described qawwali as "a folk music of South Asia" and country as "a folk music of Appalachia."

He described differences between the two traditions in musical terms. Qawwali does not necessarily follow a Western scale, which has 12 notes, he said, adding that in Eastern music there are microtones in between. He said techniques exist to artistically mimic the microtonal aspect, such as the slide guitar, where a piece of metal placed on the string makes the note inexact.

Last year, he tested an early version of Tennessee Desi at a show in Indiana. "There were people from all political sides, country folks and Desi aunties in the audience, and they were all enjoying it in different ways," he said.

His YouTube channel features original country songs such as "Married in a Barn" and a cover of the qawwali "Tajdar e Haram." He said his parents came from the mountains of Pakistan and settled in the mountains of East Tennessee, and that performing at the Symphony represents their American dream come true.