Hey guys!! Here’s a timely guest post. I’m currently recording the first all originals album with The Dublin City Rounders titled “Decent Folk” (sounding awesome by the way!). So here’s a post about one of the greatest voices ever by guest contributor Ali Jan Qadir. Well worth a read! Oh and by the way, he has the same birthday as me ;) Enjoy!!
“There are great singers, and then there are those few voices that transcend time. The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan could not only transcend time, but also language and religion. There was magic when he opened his mouth, a sense of holy ecstasy that was exciting and emotional. It wasn’t uncommon even for Western listeners, who didn’t understand a word he was singing or follow his Sufi traditions, to be moved to tears upon hearing him.”
—Chris Nickson
“The king of the kings of Qawwali” as they would call him, was born on 13th october 1948 in Lyallpur, Pakistan. Nusrat Fateh Ali khan belonged to family of Qawwali singers, a devotional form of music of the sufis. He got his training from his father and extended the family’s over 600 year tradition of Qawwali singing. He publicly performed for the first time on his father’s chehlum in 1966 and quickly became famous all over the world by the early 70’s. Nusrat Fateh Ali khan was truly gifted with an extraordinary range of vocal abilities and a voice that has never ended to amaze his audience. He is known as one the best voices ever recorded, an eternal voice that will stun the world forever. Sadly enough, the world lost him on 16th August 1997 due to kidney and liver failure proceeding to cardiac arrest in London.
Soon after he began singing Qawwali, he was invited to different countries for music scores and albums including USA, Japan, India and Europe. He performed in over 40 countries and was renowned for his strength of performing devotionally for hours and that also with immense intensity. Not just himself, but even the crowd listening to him live used to get lost in the whirls of his singing. Many of these people never understood a word in his lyrics being of a foreign language but still the cast of his spell was equally magical for all. None could deny the dedication he had towards music. Jeff Buckley says “He’s my elvis. I idolize Nusrat, he’s a god, too.”
He collaborated with many of the singers and composers around the world and experimented his skills in many different composings, never failing to give a hit. Some of his foreign work includes The Last temptation of Christ with Peter Gabriel, album Mustt Mustt and Night song with Michael Brook, soundtracks for Dead Man walking, Natural Born Killers, Any Given Sunday, Eat Pray Love and composition of music for Bandit Queen. His work in India includes music for Aur Pyaar hogya, Kachhe Dhaage, Dillagi and Dharkan just before his death among which, some were released after his death in 1999.
His Live concerts were released in a number of albums around the globe and still are best-sellers to this time because of the fact that he was one of his kind when it came to performing live. The enthusiasm and passion that he put forward in his performances, never tiring strength in his vocals, his intense spiritual charisma and extraordinary exuberance was mind blowing, a kind never heard before him and never will after him.
His powerful vocals that could perform for over 10 hours continuously gave birth to a craze in europe for his live Qawwali performances. He was the first qawwal to popularize this form of music with such huge success. Alexandra A.Seno wrote:
“Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s voice was otherworldly. For 25 years, his mystical songs transfixed millions. It was not long enough …. He performed qawali, which means wise or philosophical utterance, as nobody else of his generation did. His vocal range, talent for improvisation and sheer intensity were unsurpassed.”
The deep spiritual world that lied in his music was undeniable. As many of the famous singers proclaimed about it in their words as follows:
“Nusrat is one of the greatest singers of our time. When his singing takes off, his voice embodies soulfulness and spirituality like no other.”
-Peter Gabriel
“Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan A Living Legend His voice was a conduit to heaven.”
-Aryn Baker
“Working with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the closest I got to god.”
-Sekhar Kapoor
Singing like his is only born when the complete soul is dedicated to music and is raised like child with eternal love that not many have to offer. He went as far as he could with his passion of music and its true, his passion had no limits. A singing as free as his stays alive forever and a legend like him never dies.
Author Biography:
Ali Jan Qadir is passionate about art, food and fitness. He loves to shares things he has learned by experience. He is a contributor for a mattress blog, where he talks about things such as which is the best mattress . If you want to learn more about him visit his twitter or Google+ profile.
