Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.194.181.141 (talk) at 13:23, 18 December 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jump to navigation Jump to search
File:Nusrat.jpg
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (نصرت فتح علی خان (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.

He was born in Lyallpur, 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 Qawwali was a challenging skill to learn. 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 1967 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.

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.

File:Pakistantv.jpg
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 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 took 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 passed away of a sudden cardiac arrest on Saturday, August 16, 1997, aged 48. His body was then transported back to Lyallpur, 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 khyal 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."

Tributes

In 2005, a tribute band called Brook's Qawwali Party was formed in New York City by percussionist Brook Martinez to perform the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The 11+-piece group performs instrumental jazz versions of Nusrat's traditional qawwali songs, using the instruments conventionally associated with jazz (saxophones, brass, electric guitar, double bass, djembe, drum set, and percussion) rather than those associated with qawwali.

The late American rock singer Jeff Buckley paid tribute to Nusrat on the album "Live at Sin-é (Legacy Edition)." In his introduction, he states, "Nusrat, he's my Elvis," before performing the song "Yeh Jo Halka Halka Saroor Hai". This recording generated interest in Nusrat among an audience that was previously unaware of his music.

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 songs).
  • Nusrat! Live at Meany (1998). Produced by the University of Washington. (87-minute document of a January 23, 1993 concert at the Meany Theater, University of Washington School of Music in Seattle, during Nusrat's residency at the Ethnomusicology Program there.)
  • Concert films released by Oriental Star Agencies Ltd.
    • 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 Nov. 1983 (DVD vol. 12)
    • Digbeth 30 Oct. 1983 (DVD vol. 13)
    • 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)
  • Concert films released by Nupur Audio
    • Akhiyan Udeek Diyan (DVD)
    • Je Tun Rab Nu Manauna (DVD)
    • Yaadan Vicchre Sajan Diyan Aayiyan (DVD)

Qawwali Party

1) Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan: Nusrat's cousin, senior member of the party
2) Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan: Nusrat's brother, Vocal and Organ
3) Mohammed Iqbal Nakbi: Chorus, secretary of the party
4) Maksood Hussain: Vocal
5) Rahmat Ali: 2nd Organ
6) Asat Ali: Chorus
7) Dildar Hussain: Tabla
8) Ghulam Farid: Chorus
9) Kaukab Ali: Chorus
10) Majawar Abbas: Mandolin, Guitar
11) Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Nusrat's nephew, pupil singer, 10 years old (by the time 1988/1992)

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nusrat_Fateh_Ali_Khan&oldid=31844441"