NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Tribute

THE HEART AND SOUL OF WORLD MUSIC: REMEMBERING NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN (1948-1997) Adapted from a letter originally dated August 24, 1997
2000 by Karen I. Olsen As you might have read in the news or seen on CNN at the time, mid-August of 1997 was the occasion of a very rough week for me. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, my favorite musician in any genre, and the person with whom I most wanted to study music, took ill in London on Monday, August 11, 1997, while on the way to Los Angeles from Lahore, Pakistan to receive a kidney transplant. While still at Cromwell Hospital in London, Nusrat died of sudden cardiac arrest on Saturday, August 16, just before noon, Greenwich Mean Time. I first read the news in both the Seattle Times and the New York Times the following morning; by that time, his body had already been returned to Pakistan, where thousands of distraught people attended his funeral and burial procession. Over the next few weeks, after the initial shock had sent a massive chill down my spine, I actually felt strangely calm much of the time, which I really did not understand. I did not become severely depressed or hysterically upset, as I had anticipated from something like this. There were times, however, when I honestly did not care if I died myself; and many times during the following year when I exploded with furious anger at God, demanding that Nusrat be returned to us immediately, demanding the restoration of all my dreams that had been ripped away from me for no reason. This was a person whom I wanted to know a lot better than I had, someone I wanted to learn from and perhaps to work with professionally. I had a good many hopes, dreams and life goals that involved him and other international musicians. Nusrat was the heart and soul of the world music community, a community that I have long wanted to belong to myself. Many people have said that Nusrat died at age 48 because he did not take proper care of his health and physical condition; but I have it on good authority (and from firsthand observation) that he was making a good effort to do so during the last few years of his life. On his last North American tour, he had a personal physician with him much of the time, and kept to a very controlled diet emphasizing low fat content in an attempt to keep his diabetic condition under control. When I last saw him in August 1996, he looked much better than he had the year before, and was in terrific spirits besides. I will never forget going up to meet him during the concert intermission (wearing a finagled crew-badge sticker to get me past security), and having him reach out and grasp my hand, looking straight into my face with his dark eyes shining so brightly that they nearly blinded me; they were all I could see for a few seconds. One problem he always had, though, was that he was driven to keep working, traveling and performing, even when his health was not good. He kept up a tremendously heavy touring schedule almost consistently from the late 1980's on, which would likely burn out even a younger person in good physical condition. He could not seem to say no to performing and recording requests, and his managers did not always advise him particularly well. He always said, moreover, that he was not afraid of dying. During the summers of 1995 and 1996, I was closely involved in local organizing and promotion of Nusrat's performances with his group here in Seattle, which he considered a kind of North American "home base" since he had taught at the University of Washington as a visiting artist-in-residence during the 1992-93 school year. This was the project in which I learned the basics of concert promotion, without any real background in that field. I worked doggedly for months as a volunteer publicist (on top of a full-time job) writing and mailing press releases, display ads and flyers, and blanketing Seattle with flyers and posters wherever I was allowed to tape, staple or pin them. After Nusrat's death, I was placed in the position, once again, of gathering and disseminating information about him to people on a completely voluntary basis. After I broke the news to a local world music deejay, he asked me to come into the station and co-host a special tribute program in Nusrat's memory, with mostly traditional qawwali tracks being played, and the host interviewing me for reminiscences. The program aired on Monday, September 15, 1997 on KBCS-FM. I was also contacted online by other fans in different places who had seen my tribute articles on the Internet; for example, I corresponded several times with a man in Durban, South Africa who had seen my concert reviews and other articles that I contributed to Nusrat's official website. Some Pakistani-American friends and I attempted to organize memorial events locally, discussing anything from a large public "wake" to a private video party at someone's house. Unfortunately, due to conflicting schedules, we were not able to get together on anything specific, and I was left to hold my own solo memorial ceremony at my church, lighting candles and writing a kind of eulogy in a hand-written journal. We also heard from Nusrat's Seattle cousins that his nephew, Rahat Ali Khan, formally assumed the leadership of their ensemble as Nusrat took over in 1971 from his late father and uncle. I have not seen Rahat here in Seattle since Nusrat's last concert here on August 17, 1996; but I have been involved since then in the promotion of a younger group, Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali, under the leadership of Nusrat's nephews and former students, Rizwan and Muazzam Mujahid Ali Khan. [UPDATE: Rahat Ali Khan made a triumphant return to Seattle in July 2001; see our review of that concert on a separate page.] When I interact with these young artists and other musicians from the Subcontinent, I still get flashbacks of memory: the first time I saw Nusrat, as he walked down the hall of the UW music building toward his classroom in February 1993, accompanied by his tabla player, Dildar Hussain; myself dancing wildly in the orchestra pit of Seattle's Paramount Theatre during their concert in December 1993, and seeing him walk toward the pit when the concert had ended, looking down at the bunch of us with a huge, ecstatic grin that wouldn't quit; sharing dinner parties with him and his entire group both before and after the 1995 and 1996 concerts (one of which was at Nusrat's cousin's apartment in North Seattle, where a long line of us attempted to squeeze into a small living room, and spilled out onto the back porch where kebabs were roasting on a grill); and, most of all, being able to converse with him several times in English, and experiencing his humble and down-to-earth quality firsthand--he hardly ever talked about himself, but he loved to speak with other musicians, and would ply you with questions about what genre of music and what instruments you played, which was your best instrument, and who you thought was the best group now playing in your musical style (traditional Irish music, in my case). He was a very quiet person as a rule, and usually spoke in a half-whisper when he spoke at all, but he would listen to you intently when you discussed musical subjects, responding most often with grins and nods and different expressions centered in his eyes. Still, while it is great that I have vivid memories of interacting with a musician whom I loved, respected and cared about so strongly, I miss him terribly; and so many musical dreams I had have been stolen from me and destroyed so senselessly. I was very serious about wanting to work with Nusrat on a professional basis. I had many ideas about blending his music with traditional Celtic music in some fashion; and for this reason I tried to learn as much about qawwali music and Sufi philosophy as I could from reading and listening to recordings and videotapes, even when I couldn't be in direct contact with him or other Sufi musicians. When I met him and his group the day before their Seattle concert in 1995, I gave him two cassettes as an early birthday present: one by a local Native American flute player, and a live concert tape by Makem and Clancy (my favorite Irish musicians). He told me later that evening that he had listened to them while some of us were out shopping for him up in Lynnwood, and that he had especially enjoyed the Irish tape. He asked me a number of questions about Ireland and Irish musicians; and in August of the next year (the last time we spoke), he mentioned that he had bought a number of Irish albums since then on visits to the UK. He had already been introduced by Ry Cooder to members of the Chieftains group some time before that. He listened avidly to all kinds of music, from Indian classical to western opera to Bruce Springsteen, and announced in 1996 that he was looking for a good jazz vocalist to collaborate with. Most importantly, to worship God through music was the primary aim of his entire life. But now I am left with many precious dreams of music gone up in smoke. Sometimes it seems that nothing I want to do works out, that it is useless to have any creative dreams, goals and aspirations, because our society (and perhaps even fate) just doesn't support people with an artistic calling. Part of the problem is my own negative inner voice that discourages me so often from pursuing and realizing these dreams, even though I know plenty of other people who do just that without too much of a problem. My own family have not been much help either; whether well-intentioned or otherwise, most of my relatives have tried to discourage me from professional musicianship, perhaps unaware that music is a high and blessed calling and my greatest love, and I simply cannot sacrifice it to fit into the mainstream corporate world like everyone else. No other work that I do means anything to me except for the paychecks, and I cannot live for that alone. Some family members speak disparagingly of my supposedly selfish desire to "do my own thing", as though dedicating myself wholly to music and creative work is somehow equivalent to being a drug dealer or peddling sex on the streets of Seattle or Tacoma. This is outrageous nonsense, and that sort of discouraging attitude is what is truly selfish and life-denying. A calling to music or other arts is many people's form of service to the world, and artists need the full moral support and encouragement of the people closest to them; my spirit has been crushed and smothered for so long without this that I feel like I have been slowly dying for years from the inside out. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was fully engaged in realizing the vocation that he had, and he was fully supportive and a positive influence on many other artists as well. I know that I would feel more fully alive and inspired today if he was still on this plane, and if I could be in touch with him regularly. During the several times I met him, I would often notice him sitting and humming to himself, in his own musical world, even in the midst of a throng of people all talking at once in Urdu. He seemed to be trying to show me that, for a musician, this is completely normal behavior. Today, when I find myself sitting or walking in crowds of unsmiling professionals while humming to myself and incubating new songs in my head, I hope very much that I am not alone while so doing.

This article was originally published in the now-defunct self-publishing site, Themestream.com, in 2000.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Urdu: ? ) (October 13, 1948 - August 16, 1997) was primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis, a mystical sect of Islam.

Traditionally, Qawwali has been a family business. Nusrat's family (originally from Afghanistan) has an unbroken tradition of performing qawwali for the last 600 years.

Nusrat was born in Faisalabad, Punjab on Wednesday, October 13, 1948 to Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a distinguished musicologist, vocalist and instrumentalist, and skilled Qawwali performer. He had one brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan. Initially, his father did not want Nusrat to follow him into the Qawwali business. He had his heart set on Nusrat choosing a much more respectable career path and becoming a doctor, because he felt Qawwali artists had low social status. However, Nusrat showed such an aptitude for, and interest in, Qawwali that his father finally relented and started to train him in the art of Qawwali and he was also taught to sing within the classical framework of Khayal. This training was still incomplete when Ustad Fateh Ali Khan died in 1964 while Nusrat was still in school, and the training was continued by Nusrat's paternal uncle, Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan. Ten days after his father's death, Nusrat had a dream where his father came to him and told him to sing, touching his throat. Nusrat woke up singing and made his first public performance at his father's funeral ceremony forty days later. Nusrat was compelled to join the family Qawwali party (a group of trained Pakistani musicians including several family members). Under the guidance of Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, he became the group's leader in 1965 and the group was called Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party.

Nusrat's first public performance as leader of the family Qawwali group was in March 1965, at a studio recording broadcast as part of an annual music festival called Jashn-e-Baharan organized by Radio Pakistan. It took Nusrat several years more to perfect his craft and emerge from the shadow of the groups that were regarded as the leading contemporary Qawwals. But once he did, there was no looking back. He firmly established himself as the leading qawwal of the 20th century. His incredible voice and his complete mastery of the genre made him a superstar in the Islamic world, especially in Pakistan and India. He sang in Urdu and his native Punjabi, as well as Persian. He was also one of the first South Asian singers to perform before large Western audiences.

Nusrat took over his family's qawwali party in 1971 after the death of his father and his uncle. In Pakistan, his first major hit was the song "Haq Ali Ali" (listen here). This was performed in a traditional style and with traditional instrumentation, and featured only sparse use of Nusrat's innovative sargam improvisations. Nevertheless the song became a major hit, as many listeners were attracted to the timbre and other qualities of Nusrat's voice.


Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (second from left, with hands raised) on Pakistani TV (circa 1983)He reached out to Western audiences with a couple of fusion records produced by Canadian guitarist Michael Brook. In 1995, he collaborated with Eddie Vedder on the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking. His contribution to that and several other soundtracks and albums (including The Last Temptation of Christ), as well as his friendship with Peter Gabriel, helped to increase his popularity in Europe and the United States. Peter Gabriel's Real World label released five albums of Nusrat's traditional Qawwali performances in the West. He also performed traditional Qawwali live to Western audiences at several WOMAD world music festivals.

Apparently, when Nusrat toured in foreign countries, he would watch television commercials in order to identify the melodies and chord progressions popular in that country. He would then try to choose similar sounding songs from his repertoire for his performances.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan holds the world record for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist—a total of 125 albums.

Nusrat was taken ill with kidney and liver failure on Monday, August 11, 1997 in London, England while on the way to Los Angeles from Lahore to receive a kidney transplant. While still at Cromwell Hospital, Nusrat died of a sudden cardiac arrest on Saturday, August 16, 1997, aged 48. His body was then transported back to Faisalabad, Pakistan where thousands of distraught people attended his funeral and burial procession.


Nusrat's style of Qawwali
Nusrat was responsible for the modern evolution of qawwali. Although not the first to do so, he popularized the blending of khayal singing and techniques with qawwali. This in short took the form of improvised solos during the songs using the sargam technique, in which the performer sings the names of the notes he is singing (for example, in western notation it would be "do re mi"). He also attempted to blend qawwali music with more western styles such as techno.

Nusrat's qawwali songs usually follow the standard form. A song begins with a short instrumental prelude played on the harmonium and tabla. Then the instruments stop, and the main singers (but not the chorus) launch into the alap, which establishes the raga, the tonal structure of the song. At this point, introductory poetic verses are sung. These are usually drawn not from the main song, but from other thematically related songs. The melody is improvised within the structure of the raga. For example, listen to the verses being sung in a relatively straightforward way in one performance (listen here). Now compare this to the same verses being sung in another performance with more improvisation (listen here).

After the introductory verses, the main song starts, and the rhythmic portion of the song begins. The tabla and dholak begin to play, and the chorus aids and abets percussion by clapping their hands. The song proceeds in a call and response format. The same song may be sung quite differently by different groups. The lyrics will be essentially the same, but the melody can differ depending on which gharana or lineage the group belongs to. As is traditional in qawwali, Nusrat and the side-singers will interject alap solos (listen here), and fragments of other poems or even improvised lyrics (listen here). A song usually has two or three sets of refrains, which can be compared to the verse chorus structure found in western music. Songs last about 20 minutes on average, with a few lasting an hour or more.

Nusrat was noted for introducing other forms of improvisation into the style. From his classical music training, he would interject much more complex alap improvisations, with more vibrato and note bending (listen here). He would also interject sargam improvisations (listen here).

While it is undoubtedly difficult to put into words what makes Nusrat's music appeal so deeply to so many listeners, many of whom do not understand a single word of the languages he sings in, here is one fan's attempt to explain: "Nusrat's music invites us to eavesdrop on a man communing with his God, ever so eloquently. He makes the act of singing a passionate offering to God. But we do not merely eavesdrop. The deepest part of Nusrat's magic lies in the fact that he is able to bring our hearts to resonate with the music, so deeply, that we ourselves become full partners in that offering. He sings to God, and by listening, we also sing to God."

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Birdman Records

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan introduced Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music, to the world through collaborations with Peter Gabriel and appearances on film soundtracks throughout the '90s. The Khan family (which includes his younger cousin Badar) has borne the top Qawwali performers for generations. Having just completed his biggest American tour, Khan was at the height of his popularity when he passed away in 1997. The Final Moment documents a single night from this legendary final tour. The recording by longtime collaborator Baba Varma highlights Khan's vibrant and emotional singing and the raw energy of his live performance. The Final Moment will appeal to longtime fans and newcomers alike as a spectacular example of Khan's hypnotic and spiritual Sufi music.
Noel Morrison

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan




Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Born 13th October 1948 Faisalabad (Lyallpur) ,Pakistan

Died 16th August 1997 London, United Kingdom

On Saturday 16th August 1997 Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan passed away in London. His first British performance was in Birmingham in 1980,organised by Oriental Star Agencies,from then on he toured the country almost every year.

His family had been Qawwali (Sufi devotional music) singers for six centuries.

During his lifetime he revitalised Qawwali , making it an internationally acclaimed art form. >From Birmingham to Bombay , Tokyo to Toronto his concerts and new recordings were eagerly awaited.

Whether he was performing at music festivals, for world leaders or at the shrines of Sufi saints in his beloved Punjab he transported listeners to the realms of sublime and ecstasy.

When asked about the critics who accused him of corrupting the traditional Qawwali by introducing innovations he answered "tradition should not be seen as a dead thing, it is the responsibility of musicians to make music for the people of their time."

In the sub-continent Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs alike appreciated his music. In a world where differences are more and more being exploited to divide people he used his unrivalled talent to unify audiences.

Thirteenth century Sufi poet and musician Amir Khusrau said that music was the fire that burnt heart and soul. In the twentieth century Usatd Nusrat Fateh Ali was the carrier of that fire. Those who saw and heard him perform ecstatic improvisations will miss him greatly. Those who have yet to discover him are fortunate that his angelic voice has been left behind on a vast collection of recordings.

We at Oriental Star Agencies feel proud of our association with Khan Sahib which has continued from beginning of his career to his tragic and untimely death.

May his soul rest in peace

About Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (October 13, 1948 - August 16, 1997) was primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis, a mystical offshoot of Islam. Traditionally, Qawwali has been a family business. Nusrat's family (originally from Afghanistan) has an unbroken tradition of performing qawwali for the last 600 years.

The man with the voice the late Jeff Buckley described as "velvet fire" is dead.

Legendary Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, passed away on Saturday, August 16 in a London hospital. He was only 49.

Khan was considered one of the world's greatest singers of Sufi devotional music. Sufis are Islamic mystics, and music plays a key role in many of their rituals.

He was admitted to Cromwell Hospital last week when he arrived for medical treatment and for business, said Samine Parvez, spokeswoman for the Pakistan Embassy in London.

She said the singer, who suffered from liver and weight problems, was rushed to the hospital directly from the airport and then suffered a cardiac arrest on Saturday. His body was flown home to Lahore, Pakistan, the next day.

Khan recorded dozens of cassettes in Pakistan, where he enjoyed a huge, fervent following that spanned generations. He was renowned worldwide for his songs of religious devotion in Urdu, long performances that build in emotion and complexity to the backdrop of stringed instruments and the harmonium. The distinctive style is known as qawwali.

In recent years, he gained a following in the West. He performed in the US and recorded duets with Eddie Vedder on the soundtrack to "Dead Man Walking" while other Western musicians, such as Joan Osborne, Peter Gabriel and Jeff Buckley, praised his work. Khan also had songs on soundtrack for "Natural Born Killers."

He once said singing before Pakistani and American audiences was vastly different, but he enjoyed both because he wanted "everybody in the world to listen to my music."

"In Pakistan, when I sing, people understand my language, what I'm talking about and where I'm going to go with my music," he said. "In America, people listen to me because of my voice and its fluidity."
Among artists to pay tribute was Peter Gabriel, whose professional and personal relationship with Khan dates back to 1985. "I feel a great sense of loss today. The loss of an extraordinary artist and the loss of a friend," Gabriel, said "I have never heard so much spirit in a voice. My two main singing inspirations, Nusrat and Otis Redding, have been supreme examples of how far and deep a voice can go in finding, touching and moving the soul.

"Over the years we got to know each other inside and outside of the studio and it was always a thrill to work together, especially on some of the film music where we could cut loose. He was always generous and ready to experiment with whatever I threw at him," Gabriel concluded.

Ironically, Jeff Buckley had sounded off on the importance of Khan as the liner notes author for an upcoming Khan release. Buckley writes of the first time he heard the qawwali singer, saying, "Then came the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Part Buddha, part demon, part mad angel... his voice is a velvet fire, simply incomparable."

Caroline Records, who will release Khan's "The Supreme Collection Volume 1" on August 26, said, "It was a wonderful honor to be involved with an artist of such creative magnitude."

Khan was born in Faisalabad, in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province. For hundreds of years, members of his family have been singers of qawwali. Khan's father, also a prominent qawwali singer, originally discouraged him from the profession.

In recent years, traditionalists and qawwali purists criticized his cross-overwork. But for many Khan was the only musician they ever heard perform this extraordinary music. And anybody who saw him in concert can testify that Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan was extraordinary in every sense - from his immense and powerful voice to the vast spirituality of his music and that ample girth. Here's Don Heckman, of the L.A. Times with a full tribute. - MIKE GEE

Missionary Man
By DON HECKMAN

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a missionary. Not a proselytizing promoter of a particular spiritual view of the world; not even an outright spokesman for the Sufi religion in which he was raised. Khan's mission, in his own words, was to spread "a message of peace and love by singing from the depth of my heart." And he did so with a great passion.

Khan was the first and most successful performer to bring the Sufi devotional music known as qawwali to the West. This ecstatic form of singing, with its extended, soaring vocals, its centuries-old poetry and its trance-invoking performances, seemed an extraordinarily unlikely music to achieve popularity with Western audiences.

But Khan, who died of cardiac arrest Saturday in London, made the breakthrough, his music eliminating boundaries of space and time, linking his audiences together in a creative devotional that transcended language, attitude and culture.

Although the Pakistani singer was revered in his own country, where he was described by his devotees as Shahen-sha-e-qawwali (the king of kings, the brightest shining star of qawwali), his first widespread visibility in the West was associated with his performance on the soundtrack of the 1995 film "Dead Man Walking."

Khan's real influence, however, came - with Western audiences, as it did with his Pakistani followers - through his live appearances. His performances at the House of Blues and Universal Amphitheatre last year were typical.

Khan's imposing presence, which was likened variously to a combination of a smiling Buddha and a tuneful Jabba the Hut, did not remotely fit the familiar Western mold of a charismatic performer. But once his ensemble of chorus singers, drummers, harmoniums and stringed instruments began producing hypnotic, drone-like sounds, underpinned by soft, rhythmic percussion, a collective emotional connection began to fill the room.

And when Khan's warm and flexible voice eased into his chant-like melodies, slowly gathering intensity, building energy as he soared into ever more complex melodies, the audience was quickly swept up in the emotional fervor of the music.

Khan's passing, at a relatively youthful 49 (some sources say 48), deprives the world of one of its great artists. But the portals he opened between East and West will remain via the music of at least two talented members of his own family. His nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and cousin Ustad Badar Ali Khan, who follow closely in his footsteps, will begin a series of U.S. appearances on August 31 at the Greek Theatre.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997)


Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Visiting Artist in the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Program in 1992-93, was known internationally as the leading exponent of qawwali, devotional poetry of the Sufis of South Asia, until his death on August 16, 1997. He was born and raised in Faisalabad, Pakistan but maintained close ties to the city of Lahore. Nusrat began his formal training in classical music under the tutelage of his father, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, who led a qawwali ensemble. After the death of his father, Nusrat was formally taught the art of qawwali by his uncle. He took over the leadership of his family's ensemble in 1971 and soon became famous in his own right.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan toured internationally with his ensemble and was credited with introducing the art of qawwali to international audiences as well as to the young people of Pakistan. In 1987, he was awarded the President's Pride-of-Performance award for his contribution to Pakistani music. Recordings of Nusrat and his ensemble can be found on JVC, Real World (with Peter Gabriel), the soundtrack recording of the movie "Dead Man Walking" (with Eddie Vedder), and numerous other commercial labels.

"Nusrat! Live at Meany", a videotaped performance of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan during his residency at the University of Washington in 1993, was originally distributed by University of Washington Press but is currently out of print (as of 8/97). See Ethnomusicology Publications for updates on its future availability.



Photograph by Shantha Benegal

Dr. Hiromi Lorraine Sakata with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan during his residency in the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Program, 1992-93.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

singer
Born: 10/13/1948
Birthplace: Lyallpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan

Called "Shahen-Shah-e-Qawwali" (The Brightest Star in Qawwali), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a world music superstar and the foremost artist of qawwali (a quick, rhythmic form of music used in Islamic religious ceremonies). He made his first recording in Pakistan in 1973 and in the following twenty years released more than fifty albums—much of them, alas, remixed dreck. Despite his overexposure, a few albums stand out, including Mustt Mustt (1990) and Devotional Songs (1992). He has contributed to numerous movie soundtracks, including Bandit Queen (1994) and Dead Man Walking (1995).

Died: 8/16/1997

Without doubt the most important qawwal is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party -- "Party" is a generic term for a qawwali ensemble but is also used in Sikhism and to


describe some classical music ensembles, for example, shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan & Party. Dubbed Shahen-Shah-e-Qawwali (the Brightest Star in Qawwali), he was born on October 13, 1948, in Lyallpur in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. He made his first recording in 1973 in Pakistan and a number of early EMI (Pakistan) albums jointly billed him with his uncle Mubarak Ali Khan. Since these mainly cassette albums were invariably undated and numerous, it is difficult to place them in any more accurate chronological sequence than catalog-number order. Between 1973 and 1993 his recorded output could only be described as prodigious, with more than 50 album releases to his name on numerous Pakistani, British, American, European and Japanese labels. Heavily over-recorded, blighted with a rash of poppy remix albums or albums with Westernized instrumentation or arrangements, his recorded work is a mire to suck in the uninitiated and their money. Converts, however, do not escape scot-free. Although some releases hint at their nature with coded titles such as Volume 4 Punjabi (Oriental Star CD SR013) from 1990 or Ghazals Urdu (Oriental Star CD SR055) from 1992, the chosen language and style is frequently a matter of conjecture or uncertainty. While the Western market is saturated with his work, the Indian market is supersaturated, and his recorded output is in danger of overwhelming any sense of taste.

Real World was the label largely responsible for Khan's breakthrough into a non-Indian audience. It was their marketing skills and the platform provided by the WOMAD organization which introduced him to Westerners. Mustt Mustt (Real World CD RW 15) released in 1990 was a deliberate attempt to target the white market with its non-traditional arrangements, yet it seems positively cherubic beside later abominations. "All these albums are experiments," he told me in 1993. "There are some people who do not understand at all but just like my voice. I add new lyrics and modern instruments to attract the audience. This has been very successful." Success, however, bred indifference to the virtues and values of the original music. Many find the remix albums, the Western and youth-market releases, a source of despair: buyer beware remains the watchword. When singing his traditional work he remains peerless. Many fans regret the dilution of his talent that has occurred with his "experiments." However, in 1994, reportedly tired of unauthorized releases, he took greater control of both his business affairs and his concert and recording activities. With his international renown at an all-time peak, Khan died on August 16, 1997; a seemingly endless procession of posthumous releases appeared in the years to follow. ~ Ken Hunt, All Music Guide

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Night Song
I will be forever grateful to Peter Gabriel's RealWorld Studios for producing this album. Without it, I might never have come across the late, great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Nusrat was a Sufi singer - a mystical sect of Islam, in which ecstatic music, singing and dancing is an important part of the devotions. In this collaboration, Nusrat's remarkable voice is paired with the subtle trance-like music of Michael Brook. Nusrat's voice is absolutely unique. It soars and swoops around, conveying pain, longing and ecstasy so vividly that you don't need to understand the language (or read the track titles) to get the emotional meaning. His voice has power and subtlety and is utterly seductive. The more you listen to this album, the more it will seep into your consciousness. It's also a very sensual album, in a totally unexpected way. It also influenced my choice of restaurant when I was in Paris once with Mr. Butshesagirl. We were wandering around, trying to find a place to eat, but we just couldn't decide. Then we heard this album drifting out from one restaurant. That made our decision for us: we figured that any restaurant owner with the taste to put on this album must cook great food (there's logic in there somewhere). It turned out that we were right.