Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

This article is about the Pakistani musician. For the Turkish minelayer, see Nusret.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Template:Lang-ur, October 13 1948 – August 16, 1997), was a Pakistani musician, primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis (a mystical tradition within Islam). He featured in Time magazine's 2006 list of 'Asian Heroes'. Among other honorary titles bestowed upon him, Nusrat was called Shahenshah-e-Qawwali, meaning The Emperor of Qawwali.

Biography

Early life and career

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born on October 13, 1948 in the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan. He was the fifth child and first son of Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a distinguished and legendary musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and Qawwal. Nusrat's family, which included his four older sisters and his younger brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan grew in central Lyallpur, in a small flat which was rented from a local businessman.

Qawwali is a performance art that has traditionally been passed down within families. Nusrat's family has an unbroken tradition of performing Qawwali for approximately 600 years. Nusrat's father was initially reluctant to allow him to enter the family business, instead hoping his son would become a doctor or an engineer, having felt Qawwals had a low social status. However, Nusrat's enthusiasm for Qawwali eventually persuaded his father to train him in the art. Nusrat began by learning to play tabla alongside his father before progressing to learn Raag Vidya and Bolbandish. He then went on to learn to sing within the classical framework of khayal in the Qawwal Bachchon Ka Gharana and was taught dhrupad from the Dagar family. Khan's training with his father was cut short when his father died in 1964, leaving Nusrat's paternal uncles, Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, to complete his training.

His first performance was at a traditional graveside ceremony for his father, known as chehlum, which took place forty days after his father's death. In 1971, after the death of Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan, Nusrat became the official leader of the family Qawwali party and the party became known as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party. Nusrat assumed leadership of the party, despite the fact that Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan, who was Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan's son, was considerably older than him.

Nusrat's first public performance as the leader of the Qawwali party was at a studio recording broadcast as part of an annual music festival organised by Radio Pakistan, known as Jashn-e-Baharan. Nusrat went on to distinguish himself from other Qawwals and became renowned on the Indian subcontinent and in the Muslim world. He sang mainly in Urdu and Punjabi and occasionally in Persian, Brajbhasha and Hindi. His first major hit in Pakistan was the song Haq Ali Ali, which was performed in a traditional style and with traditional instrumentation. The song featured restrained use of Nusrat's sargam improvisations and attracted a large number of listeners.

Early in his career, Nusrat was signed up by Oriental Star Agencies [OSA] of Birmingham UK to their Star Cassette Label. OSA sponsored regular concert tours by Nusrat to the U.K. from the early '80s onwards, and released much of this live material (albeit not always very well recorded) on cassette, CD, videotape and DVD. The vast majority of Nusrat's qawwali performances that are available today in video format on various labels comes from these OSA-sponsored concert tours.

Success in the West

Nusrat reached out to Western audiences through his work with Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ in 1985, his collaborations with Canadian musician Michael Brook (on the albums Mustt Mustt (1990) and Night Song (1996)), and his work with Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder in 1995 on two songs for the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking. He also contributed to the soundtrack of Natural Born Killers. Nusrat was unhappy with the use of his vocals on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, stating that the nature of the film was contrary to the beliefs and the ideals conveyed in his work.

Peter Gabriel's Real World label later released five albums of Nusrat's traditional Qawwali, together with some of his experimental work which included the albums Mustt Mustt and Star Rise. Nusrat provided vocals for The Prayer Cycle, which was put together by Jonathan Elias, but died before the vocals could be completed. Alanis Morissette was brought in to sing with his unfinished vocals. He also performed traditional Qawwali before international audiences at several WOMAD world music festivals and the single Dam Mast Qalandar was remixed by electronic trip hop group Massive Attack in 1998.

His album Intoxicated Spirit was nominated for a Grammy award in 1997 for best traditional folk album.

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. After his death, the song "Solemn Prayer", on which Nusrat provided vocals, was used by Peter Gabriel on his album Up and in the soundtrack to the film Blood Diamond.

Later years

Nusrat contributed songs to, and performed in, several Pakistani films. Shortly before his death, he recorded a song each for two Bollywood films, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (in which he also appeared) and Kachche Dhaage. He also sang the immensely-popular title song of the film, Dhadkan. There was also a song sung by him in the movie Kartoos, starting Sanjay Dutt and Manisha Koirola

Nusrat contributed the song 'Gurus of Peace' to the album 'Vande Mataram', composed by Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, and released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of India's independence.

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 as of 2001. Since then, many posthumous albums have been released, but an accurate count of the total number of albums is not available.

Nusrat was taken ill with kidney and liver failure on August 11, 1997 in London, England while on the way to Los Angeles in order to receive a kidney transplant. Nusrat died of a sudden cardiac arrest at Cromwell Hospital, London, on Saturday, August 16, 1997, aged 48, at the height of his career. . His body was returned to Faisalabad, Pakistan and his funeral was attended by thousands of people.

Nusrat's style of Qawwali

Nusrat is responsible for the modern evolution of Qawwali. Though 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. He also attempted to blend Qawwali music with more western styles such as electronic music.

Nusrat's Qawwali usually follows the standard form. A song begins with a short instrumental prelude played on the harmonium, accompanied by percussion. Then the instruments refrain, and the main singers launch into the alap, which establishes the raag, the tonal structure of the music. At this point, introductory poetic verses are sung. These are usually drawn not from the main song, but from thematically related songs. The melody is improvised within the structure of the raag.

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, and fragments of other poems or even improvised lyrics. 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 twenty 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. He would also interject sargam improvisations.

While it is undoubtedly difficult to put into words what makes Nusrat's music so deeply appealing 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".

Composition of Nusrat's Qawwali Party

The composition of Nusrat's party changed over the twenty-six years that he led the party. Listed below is a snapshot of the party, circa 1983:

1. Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan: Nusrat's first cousin, vocals
2. Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan: Nusrat's brother, vocals and lead harmonium
3. Rehmat Ali: vocals and second harmonium
4. Maqsood Hussain: vocals
5. Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Nusrat's nephew & pupil, vocals
6. Dildar Hussain: percussion
7. Majawar Abbas: mandolin and guitar/chorus, handclapping
8. Mohammed Iqbal Naqvi: secretary of the party, chorus, handclapping
9. Asad Ali: chorus, handclapping Nusrat's cousin
10. Ghulam Farid: chorus, handclapping
11. Kaukab Ali: chorus, handclapping

The one significant member of the party who does not appear on this list is Atta Fareed. For many years, he alternated with Rehmat Ali on vocals and second harmonium. He is easily identifiable in videos since he plays the harmonium left-handed.

This snapshot is non-representative in one respect: harmoniums were usually the only instruments. Only rarely were instruments like mandolin or guitar used.

Tributes

The late American rock singer Jeff Buckley paid his tribute to Nusrat on the album, Live at Sin-é. In his introduction, he states, "Nusrat, he's my Elvis," before performing the song "Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai." The recording generated interest among the audience who were previously unaware of his music. He also stated in an interview, "I idolize Nusrat, he's a god too." Buckley died in May 1997 in Memphis, Tennessee, 3 months before Nusrat. In addition, Nusrat's posthumously released The Supreme Collection Vol. 1 has liner notes written by Buckley, to whom this album is dedicated.

On his death, WBAI-NY in New York aired only his music for 25 hours non-stop.

Eddie Vedder said, "I was lucky to work with Nusrat, a true musician who won't be replaced in my life. There was definitely a spiritual element in his music." Eddie Vedder also incorporated 'Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan' into the lyrics of 'Wishlist' during the 98' Yield tour in Melbourne, Australia.

SPIN magazine listed Nusrat as one of the 50 most influential artists of music in 1998.

Paul Williams picked a concert performance by Nusrat for inclusion in his 2000 book The 20th Century's Greatest Hits: a "top-40" list, in which he devotes a chapter each to what he considers the top 40 artistic achievements of the 20th century in any field (including art, movies, music, fiction, non-fiction, science-fiction).

In 2004, a tribute band called Brooklyn Qawwali Party (formerly Brook's Qawwali Party) was formed in New York City by percussionist Brook Martinez to perform the music of Nusrat. The 13-piece group still performs mostly instrumental jazz versions of Nusrat's qawwalis, using the instruments conventionally associated with jazz rather than those associated with qawwali.

TIME magazine's issue of November 6, 2006, "60 Years of Asian Heroes", lists Nusrat as one of the top 12 Artists and Thinkers in the last 60 years .

The Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote a tribute song about Nusrat, called "Circle of the Noose". It has never been released.

The Derek Trucks Band released "Makki Madni" on their 2002 album Joyful Noise with Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing. In addition they released a studio recorded medley of "Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni" on their 2006 album Songlines, in which Derek Trucks emulates Nusrat's vocals (from the album "The Last Prophet") with his slide guitar playing.

In 2007, London-based producer Gaudi released Dub Qawwali, featuring dub reggae with Nusrat's vocals .

In the British-Asian and South Asia his music was popularised by remixes by various artists the most prominent being Bally Sagoo. He also featured in a song with A.R. Rahman. He was relatively well known in the Far east especilaly in Japan where he was known as "Singing Buddha" plus "Quintessence of the Human singing" in Tunisia, "Voice of Paradise" in USA, "Pavarotti of the East" in France.

Nusrat has been an inspiration to many successful younger singers in India, Pakistan and the Middle East. The most notable among them is Kailash Kher, whose style has often been compared to Nusrat's .

Films

Documentaries

• Nusrat has Left the Building... But When? (1997). Directed by Farjad Nabi. (This 20-minute docudrama focuses on Nusrat's early career.)
• A Voice from Heaven (1999). Directed by Giuseppe Asaro. (This 75-minute documentary, available on VHS and DVD, provides an excellent introduction to Nusrat's life and work.)

Concert films

• The JVC Video Anthology of World Music and Dance (1990). Video 14 (of 30) (South Asia IV). Produced by Ichikawa Katsumori; directed by Nakagawa Kunikiko and Ichihashi Yuji; in collaboration with the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. [Tokyo]: JVC, Victor Company of Japan; Cambridge, Massachusetts: distributed by Rounder Records. Features a studio performance by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party (two Urdu-language songs: a Hamd (song in praise of Allah), and a Manqabat for Khwaja Mu`inuddin Chishti, a 13th century Sufi saint. Filmed in Tokyo, Japan, September 20, 1987, for Asian Traditional Performing Arts).
• Nusrat! Live at Meany (1998). Produced by the University of Washington. (87-minute document of a January 23 1993 concert at Meany Hall, University of Washington in Seattle, during Nusrat's residency at the Ethnomusicology Program there.)
• Live in Concert in the U.K. (DVD, vols. 1-17) [OSA]; recorded between 1983 and 1993; first thirteen listed below:
  • Live in Concert in UK (DVD vol. 1)
  • Live in Concert (DVD vol. 2)
  • Live in Concert (DVD vol. 3)
  • Live in UK (DVD vol. 4)
  • Live in UK (DVD vol. 5)
  • Live in Concert (DVD vol. 6)
  • Live in UK (DVD vol. 7)
  • Live in UK (DVD vol. 8)
  • Live in UK (DVD vol. 9)
  • Live in UK (DVD vol. 10)
  • Live in UK (DVD vol. 11)
  • Digbeth Birmingham 12 November 1983 (DVD vol. 12)
  • Digbeth 30 October 1983 (DVD vol. 13)
• Akhiyan Udeek Diyan (DVD) [Nupur Audio]
• Je Tun Rab Nu Manauna (DVD) [Nupur Audio]
• Yaadan Vicchre Sajan Diyan Aayiyan (DVD) [Nupur Audio]
• Rang-e-Nusrat (DVD, vols. 1-11) [Music Today]; recorded between 1983 and 1993 (same material as the OSA DVDs)
• VHS videotapes, vols. 1-21 [OSA]; recorded between 1983 and 1993 (same material as the OSA DVDs)
  • Luxor Cinema Birmingham (VHS vol. 1, 1979)
  • Digbeth Birmingham (VHS vol. 2, 1983)
  • St. Francis Hall Birmingham (VHS vol. 3, 1983)
  • Royal Oak Birmingham (VHS vol. 4, 1983)
  • Private Mehfil (Wallace Lawley Centre, Lozells Birmingham, November 1983) (VHS vol. 5)
  • Private Mehfil (VHS vol. 6, 1983)
  • Natraj Cinema Leicester (VHS vol. 7, 1983)
  • Live In Southall (VHS vol. 8)
  • Live In Bradford (VHS vol. 9, 1983)
  • Live In Birmingham (VHS vol. 10, 1985)
  • Allah Ditta Hall (VHS vol. 11, 1985)
  • Harrow Leisure Centre (VHS vol. 12)
  • University Of Aston (VHS vol. 13, 1988)
  • Aston University (VHS vol. 14, 1988)
  • WOMAD Festival Bracknell (VHS vol. 15, 1988)
  • Live In Paris (VHS vol. 16, 1988)
  • Poplar Civic Centre London (VHS vol. 17)
  • Imperial Hotel Birmingham (VHS vol. 18, 1985)
  • Slough Gurdawara (SHABADS) (VHS vol. 19)
  • Imran Khan Cancer Appeal (VHS vol. 20)
  • Town Hall Birmingham (VHS vol. 21, 1993)

Nusrat in popular culture

• A hero in the novel "Chapayev and Void" by Viktor Pelevin is listening to a tape by an imaginary band Crimson Jihad which is described as a duo of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Robert Fripp from King Crimson.

• In Mira Nair's movie Monsoon Wedding, in one scene when a car drives up to the wedding house, Nusrat's "Allah Hoo" is playing in the car.

• HBO's Sex and the City had his rendition Tere Bin Nahin Lagda/Jaania in Episode 9 of Season 2

• Natural Born Killers features some pieces by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, including "Allah, Mohammed, Char Yaar", as well as "Taboo" with Peter Gabriel. In documentaries, it is said that director Oliver Stone always had Nusrat's music playing on the set in between takes.

• Bend It Like Beckham features Tere Bin Nahin Lagda/Jaania playing in the background several times during the movie.

• In Shoaib Mansoor's film "Khuda Ke Liye", Nusrat is described as a talented Pakistani musician who introduced Qawwali to the West.

See also

• Music of Pakistan
• List of Pakistani musicians
• Mast Qalandar
• Afreen Afreen

References

• Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali; Asaro, Giuseppi (Director, Producer); & Sforza, Alessandro (Producer). (2001). A voice from heaven: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the most beautiful voice in the world [DVD]. New York, NY: Winstar TV & Video. ISBN 0794201253.
• Ruby, Ahmed Aqeel. (1992). Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: A Living Legend. Translated by Sajjad Haider Malik. Lahore: Words of Wisdom.
• http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/artist/content.artist/nusrat_fateh_ali_khan_28502

External links

• Article with brief 1993 interview (edwebproject.org)
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Obituary and Public Tributes
• http://www.yourstrulypoetry.com/nusrat_fateh_ali_khan.htm Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Life Facts and Work]