NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN - Page 4

Another great post..thanks you so much.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Before every match, Pakistan's cricket team listened to the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, right. They seldom lost. But on Aug. 16, they lost Nusrat to a heart attack. As doctors in London fought to save him, Nusrat, 48, told them: "Take care of my throat." It was his treasure. He was one of the greatest exponents of qawali, the devotional music of the Muslim Sufi sect. Audiences wept and danced at his voice. After he died, the press in Pakistan and India heralded him as the harbinger of peace between the nations. His singing always carried a message: love of God and mankind.

		Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Shahen-Sha - the Brightest of Stars In August 1997 the world lost one of its finest musical performers. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a man whose intense stage presence and progressive approach to his craft propelled him across cultural borders to become a musical ambassador for Pakistan and his beloved religion, the branch of Islam known as Sufism. His death was mourned by his followers throughout the world and most strongly amongst the Sufi devotees of this gigantic perfomer. A big man in all senses of the word, whether at a shrine or on the concert platform, Khan's physical bulk dominated his surroundings just as his marvellous voice and delivery towered above those privileged enough to witness his performance. The sheer intensity of feeling into which he drew his qawwal (group), and so his listeners, was utterly palpable - the atmosphere that Nusrat created in performance was never short of highly-charged. But this far-sighted giant went beyond the boundaries of the qawwal to nurture and develop projects around the world with a variety of artists from widely differing backgrounds - and this was the secret of his international success. Whilst there are many variations in qawwali performance, there are basic rules which apply. The all-male singing groups, of whatever size, will always feature a lead singer and one or two more singers (2nd lead singers) in addition to the chorus. Instrumental accompaniment will always include the harmonium (usually played by a second singer) and tabla/percussion. The purpose of the qawwal/group performance is to deliver the divine message of Sufism to its adherents, and the powerful intensity of the sound is, as in the devotional music of many cultures, designed to bring the listener to an ecstatic state, to bring the believer closer to God. The rhythm of percussion, melody and, most importantly, the vocal delivery is central to the power of qawwali to move its audience. The chorus rises and swells in intensity behind the lead performer, accentuating and punctuating the message in the music. As each performance develops, so its strength intensifies until a highly devotional state is reached. Qawwali performance is founded on the poetry and ancient texts of the 'Persian Poets', early supplicants to the peace-loving Sufi belief. The poetry of qawwali can be traced back to Amir Khusrau, a 13th century Sufi poet/composer of great standing, whose work often (controversially) included metaphorical references to physical love, ecstasy and even alcoholic intoxication to help convey his message. 'En concert Paris' is a remarkable 5-CD recording of a full performance of Nusrat & Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan plus a seven-part chorus, harmonium and tabla, at Radio France Studios in Paris in 1985. The recording includes a Khusrau poem 'I don't know where I am going'. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's family line has been following in the qawwali tradition for more than five centuries and the tradition is living on through the present inheritors Rizwan and Muazzam Ali Khan, nephews of the great perfomer. One of the most important factors in the musical path Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan followed was his readiness not only to perform his art outside of the traditional venues such as Sufi shrines, but also to incorporate foreign instrumentation and ideas into qawwali, to take the genre outside of itself by collaborating with musicians from diverse cultures. Fortunately, he came upon the now-legendary WOMAD festival (he performed at the first-ever) and a nascent Real World records, when Peter Gabriel used a Nusrat recording in the soundtrack ('Passion - sources') for the controversial Martin Scorcese movie 'The last temptation of Christ'. He drew a lot of criticism from inside the religion for his diversification but it was his strong belief that the Sufi message should be spread as wide as possible. In his own words, talking about appearing on the concert stage: "..there is always hope that (the music) will touch some of those listeners in a special way". The highly rhythmic nature of qawwali, with elements such as the fast, fluidic chanting known as tarana, has lent the music the ability to crossover both musically and culturally with contemporary styles. Nusrat has exploited this flexibility in collaborations with artists like UK band Massive Attack whose re-mix of 'Musst musst' (on the Real World album of the same name) has a wonderfully appealling trip-hop ambiance. In Khan's next collaboration, 'Night song', another work put together with Canadian Michael Brook, a more laid-back ambient side of his art is examined. 'Ragas and sagas', a ground-breaking work featuring Scandinavian saxophonist Jan Garbarek and the entire Qawwal and Party of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, moves seamlessly from easy ambience to full-blown intensity with Nusrat's wild and convoluted vocalising emphasised in the haunting, mimicking echo of Garbarek's saxophone. The UK-based Asian dance artist Bally Sagoo has been let loose in the studio with some qawwali originals to create foot-shifting dance mixes in styles from pure dance such as the wonderful 'Magic touch' to the frantic junglist drum'n'bass of 'Jewel'. Back home Nusrat has collaborated with artists from the popular music scene, melding his music with the sound of Pakistani pop, as exemplified by albums like 'Must mast II' & 'House of Shah 3' . Since Nusrat's untimely death, Real World have been allowed access to the archive of unreleased material held by his family in Lahore. Two compilations, taken from these archives, are now available entitled 'Dust to gold' and 'Body and soul', both contain pure qawwali pieces. A compilation - 'Rapture', looking at Khan's career and taking in the various collaborations he undertook, is a good introduction to his music, moving from qawwali through to his various collaborative projects. Sufism practices a faith of harmony, love and peace. The huge body of work and the greater awareness of Sufism around the world which is the legacy of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is testament to the strength of his belief in that faith. Let us celebrate the life of a true world leader.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died August 16th in London of complications from diabetes. Whle his popularity has risen of late in the west due to his collaborations with Michael Brook and Peter Gabriel, and the use of his music in popular films, his star never set in Pakistan and India, where his death was felt by hundreds of thousands of sad hearts. He was a singer of power and ecstasy. - Editor

The Brightest Star of Qawwali
by John Cho Because of music's undeniable power to move the human body as well as the spirit, religions that abhor the tendencies of the flesh have always treated music with suspicion. Many cultures that are dominated by such religions have developed dual musical modes, sacred versus secular, segregating each kind to its proper place and purpose, the church versus the dance hall, the temple versus the brothel, the "Ave Maria" versus Madonna. But other religions (usually the "heretical" offshoots of the major brands or syncretic results of colonizations) have embraced the sensual side of music in a quest for total transcendence, i.e., music as a vehicle of transport to the gods or to enlightenment. Practitioners of such trance music are found all over the world, from the Sanghyang dancers of Bali to the nomadic tribe known as the Deadheads in the continental United States. The Sufi, with more than nine million adherents, is one of the larger religious sects that practice such musical entrancement. Qawwali, which means "utterance" in Arabic, is the musical medium through which the Sufis of Pakistan and India travel toward a state of mystical bliss. Since its inception in the seventh century, orthodox Islam has been particularly fearful of the corrupting influence of music. Singing and the playing of instruments were long considered sinful, and to this day music has no place in the mosque. But perhaps it is not surprising, given the rich roots of Arabic and Persian music that long predate Islam, that an alternate Muslim sect embracing the power of music was born. Sufism originated in tenth century Persia and generated various factions, one of which was the Chisti order that traveled 200 years later to the Indian subcontinent where the modern form of qawwali evolved. (Another well-known Sufi diaspora group is the whirling dervish of Sudan.) The original qawwali repertoire of Farsi (Persian), Punjabi, and Braj Bhasha (an old form of Hindi) has given way in recent times to Urdu and Arabic. The text usually consists of a few lines that are repeated over and over, with such unorthodox subjects as romantic love and alcoholic intoxication used as metaphors for spiritual adoration and mystical enlightenment, e.g., "The eyes of my sweetheart are so bewitching that even the best wine of the tavern pales in comparison."* It is no wonder that qawwali, minus the religious interpretations, has become a staple of Indian film scores. The typical modern-day qawwali group consists of a qawwal (the lead singer) backed up by a harmonium, dholak (a double-headed finger drum), tabla, plus a couple of backup singers leading the choral response and vigorous hand claps. Often a song will begin with a slow instrumental vamp that introduces the melodic motif. The qawwal then meanders in with the first line and soon the call-and-response pattern is established. Phrases are repeated ad infinitum punctuated by sudden and furious breaks of virtuoso coloratura singing by the leader. As the piece progresses the tempo and volume are gradually increased thus elevating the listeners to higher and higher states of entrancement. A seasoned qawwal alertly monitors the audience response and adjusts the degree of repetition and the "heat" accordingly. By far the most famous qawwal today is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan of Pakistan. Since his introduction to the West in 1985 by Peter Gabriel's WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) project, the Shahen-Shah-e-Qawwali (Brightest Star of Qawwali) has contributed music for the films Last Temptation of Christ, Natural Born Killers, and Dead Man Walking, played on MTV, been profiled by Rolling Stone, and currently has three albums on the World Music chart. Nusrat's huge, reedy voice has even raised the consciousness (or at least the adrenaline level) of dance floor regulars courtesy of sampling by the English group Massive Attack. He himself has been eager to collaborate with Western musicians and several crossover albums have resulted. Nusrat's father, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, was one of the great qawwals of his time. But in the tradition of well-intentioned but misguided parents, he tried to persuade his son to become a doctor instead. Nusrat had to resort to eavesdropping on his father's music classes to absorb the fundamentals. Soon after his father's death he joined an uncle's qawwali group; he was seventeen years old. Fame and acclaim soon followed in Pakistan. Now at forty-six years of age, he has transcended genre and national borders to be recognized as one of the unique vocal treasures of the world.

By religious proscription a traditional qawwali gathering is exclusively male. Nusrat himself believes that women do not have the stamina required to be a master qawwal like himself. Ironically his only child is a daughter. If she is even now eavesdropping on her father's music lessons, we should not be surprised to see in thirty years that the new Shahen-Shah-e-Qawwali is a woman.

Qawwali and Sufi music: Khalid Manzoor Basra

The range of Sufi music includes the highly structured genre of qawwali, kafi and various regional genres of similar ethos. The origin of qawwali (Sufi poetry set to music) is traced back to the 13th century saint poet musician Amir Khusrau of Delhi, who evolved and perfected the musical structure of the genre and also in a way set the tone of poetic imagery and construction which has been broadly followed by the future composers. In line with the general policy of propagation of Islamic values, the genre received special treatment in the post 1947 official policy and special slots were allocated to qawwali performances on radio and television. A host of other religious genres also developed as popular media items in the same period of time which include kafi, na'at and hamd.

A number of very talented musicians excelled in the art of Kafi singing, polishing the predominantly folk structure into a highly ornate semi-classical art form. Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan, who was active around 1947, had a number of kafi compositions in his repertoire and had also cut a number of gramophone discs. In this style, which was highly embellished and filigreed with a strong element of tappa, Zahida Parveen developed as a great vocalist.

In the subsequent years a number of prominent classical vocalists also experimented in the genre but a few developed it exclusively. These include Pathaney Khan, Zahida's daughter, Shahida Parveen, Hussain Bakhsh Dhadhi, Ustad Allah Dad of Bahawalpur in the Punjabi/ Saraiki style and Abida Parveen, Ustad Jumman, Sohrab Fakir, Qurban Fakir, Faqira Bhagat, Krishan Lal Bheel and a range of others in the Sindhi style. Most of these artists have had successful international tours as well.

Qawwali developed as the major Sufi music genre through the careers of a number of prominent qawwals like Munshi Raziuddin, Baha-ud-din, Santoo Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's father, Fateh Ali Khan and uncle Mubarak Ali Khan, Aziz Mian, Sabri Brothers and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Qawwali had a healthy steady patronage from the shrines of Sufi saints which have large established followings who shower money on qawwals performing on various auspicious occasions. It was the carrying of this genre abroad in the early seventies, however, that made it a powerful widely popular genre on the world music scene. Sabri Brothers performing in Carnegie Hall New York in the mid seventies received rave reviews succeeded by several very successful international tours. Aziz Mian also had a successful concert career.

It was a blending of a number of factors that resulted in the phenomenal success of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who died at the zenith of his career in London on 16th August 1997 at the age of 51. He followed the impact made by Sabri brothers and recorded a few fusion-based qawwali compositions in the early 80's, which became world-wide hits. He had a traditional qawwali training from his father and other family elders of the Jullundhri qawwal family - was endowed with a keen sense of innovative composition and was lucky to be noticed by some of the leading experimental contemporary world musicians like Peter Gabriel who provided him the break that he needed. His musical experiments were frequently criticised by the contemporary purist qawwals who considered use of western instruments and the fusion experiments carried out by Nusrat somewhat blasphemous. His use of certain techniques of western polyphonic composition in his orchestration was also not supported by these quarters. He, however, rose from height to height and became the top selling artist out of Asia, composed for Hollywood movies, Bombay films, and there was never a dearth of demand for his music till the moment of his death. He also brought to Pakistan some of the latest recording equipment and was always busy composing and recording in his studios. His strength also lay in intricate use of rhythm, a wide knowledge of traditional repertoire of raagas and a very sound intimate living knowledge of folk music which he used in some of his most well known compositions.

thanx Kavita,Iron,VJ,Gummi

Qwest thanx for contributing the articles really appreciate

Originally posted by: Gumshuda

Another magnificient post..thanks 👏 👏 👏

thanx a lot gummi ji for liking the articles

Originally posted by: Iron

Arrey Ghumu bhaiyya...kidher gum ho 😛

Vinnie thanks for posting on one of my fav artist 👏

he is one of my favorites too

Originally posted by: Qwest

Another great post..thanks you so much.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Before every match, Pakistan's cricket team listened to the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, right. They seldom lost. But on Aug. 16, they lost Nusrat to a heart attack. As doctors in London fought to save him, Nusrat, 48, told them: "Take care of my throat." It was his treasure. He was one of the greatest exponents of qawali, the devotional music of the Muslim Sufi sect. Audiences wept and danced at his voice. After he died, the press in Pakistan and India heralded him as the harbinger of peace between the nations. His singing always carried a message: love of God and mankind.

thanx a ton for ur articles qwest

Qawwali Lyrics and their English Translation

I am trying to transliterate and translate the lyrics according to my limited knowledge.
Let me affirm that these translations are by no means, scholarly.
I am just doing my bit to help the fans of Nusrat, to understand his music better.

Please help me to rectify any errors or omissions.

I would be highly thankful if you could please contribute lyrics of your favourite Qawwali's sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Please email your lyrics at mohib_ahmad@yahoo.co.in

Album - Sangam
Aafreen Aafreen
Duration 10:00 mins

husn-e-jaana ki taareef mumkin nahin

( it is not possible to praise the beauty of beloved )

aafreen aafreen

( praise to the creater
praise to the creater )

too bhi dekhe agar to kahe ham-nashin

( if you see my beloved, you will also say )

aafreen aafreen

( praise to the creater
praise to the creater )

aisa dekha nahin khubsurat koi
jism jaise Ajanta ki murat koi
jism jaise nigahon pe jadu koi
jism nagma koi jism khushboo koi
jism jaise machalti hui raagini
jism jaise mehakti hui chaandni
jism jaise ke khilta hua ik chaman
jaise jaise suraj ki pehli kiran
jism tarsha hua dil-kash-o-dil-nashin
sandali sandali
marmari marmari

( I never saw anyone so beautiful
body is like the images of Ajanta*
body is like a spell on eyes
body is like a song, like perfume
body is like ecstatic music
body is like perfumed moon-light
body is like a blooming garden
body is like the first ray of Sun
body is like carved statue, eye-catching and arresting
like sandalwood
like marble )

aafreen aafreen

( praise to the creater
praise to the creater )

husn-e-jaana ki taareef mumkin nahin

( it is not possible to praise the beauty of beloved )

chehra ik phuul ki tarah shadab hai
chehra uska hai ya koi mehtaab hai
chehra jaise ghazal, chehra jaan-e-ghazal
chehra jaise kali, chehra jaise kanwal
chehra jaise tasavvur ki tasveer bhi
chehra ik khwaab bhi chehra tabeer bhi
chehra koi alif lailavi daastaan
chehra ik pal yaqeen chehra ik pal gumaan
chehra jaise ke chehra koi bhi nahin
mah-rooh mah-rooh
mah-jabin mah-jabin

( face is as fresh as a flower
is it a face or the moon
face is like an ode, face is essence of ode
face is like flower-bud, face is like lotus
face is like iamge of imagination
face is dream, face is the meaning of dream
face is one of the tales of Arabian Nights
face is certainty at one instant and speculation, another instant
face like no other face
face like moon
forehead like moon )

aafreen aafreen

( praise to the creater
praise to the creater )

husn-e-jaana ki taareef mumkin nahin

( it is not possible to praise the beauty of beloved )

aankhein dekhi to main dekhta reh gaya
jaam do aur donon hi do aatishah
aankhein ya maikade ke ye do baab hain
aankhein inko kahuun ya kahuun khwaab hain
aankhein neechi huiiN to haya ban gayiiN
aankhein oonchi huiiN to dua ban gayiiN
aankhein jhuk kar uthiiN to ada ban gayiiN
aankhein jin mein hain qaid aasmaan-o-zamiiN
nargisi nargisi
surmayi surmayi

( I could not keep off my eyes after seeing her eyes
they are like two cups of wine and that too, burning
are these eyes or two doors of wine-house
her downward glance is abashness
her upward glance is prayer
when eyes look up after downward glance, is like a style
eyes, in which arrested are the sky and the earth
like Narcissus
like greyish )

aafreen aafreen

( praise to the creater
praise to the creater )

husn-e-jaana ki taareef mumkin nahin

( it is not possible to praise the beauty of beloved )

zulf-e-jaanaN ki bhi lambi hai daastaaN
zulf ke mere dil per hai parchaiyaaN
zulf jaise ke ummdi hui ho ghata
zulf jaise ke ho koi kaali bala
zulf uljhe to duniya pareshaan ho
zulf suljhe to ye geet aasaan ho
zulf bikhre siyaah raat chhaane lage
zulf lehraaye to raat gaane lage
zulf zanjeer hai phir bhi kitni hasiin
reshmi reshmi
ambariiN ambariin

( the story of the tresses of beloved is also long
tresses are like shadows on my heart
tresses are like over-cast clouds
tresses like some black spectre
when tresses are entangled, so also is the world
when tresses are straight, then writing this song becomes easy
when tresses spread apart then black night downs
when tresses sway then the night sings
tresses are chains, but so beautiful
silken
perfumed )

aafreen aafreen

husn-e-jaana ki taareef mumkin nahin

( it is not possible to praise the beauty of beloved )

aafreen aafreen

( praise to the creater
praise to the creater )

too bhi dekhe agar to kahe ham-nashin

( if you see my beloved, you will also say )

aafreen aafreen

( praise to the creater
praise to the creater )

husn-e-jaana ki taareef mumkin nahin

( it is not possible to praise the beauty of beloved )

Vikasji,

This is not the kind of forum for the concerns or opinions that you are raising. This is a musical forum where politics is not an issue.

I as a member do take offense.It is reeking of racism and if you are so interested in posting it please go to a RSS forum and post it there.

Please do not post such comments here.