Name : Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1965–1995)
Born : 13-10-1948 Faisalabad,
Died : 16-8-1997 London, United Kingdom
NFAK, Khan Saheb, Shahenshah-e-Qawwali
Profile
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a Pakistani musician, primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis. Considered one of the greatest voices ever recorded, he possessed an extraordinary range of vocal abilities and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. Extending the 600-year old Qawwali tradition of his family, Khan is widely credited with introducing Qawwali music to international audiences.He is popularly known as "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali", meaning "The King of Kings of Qawwali".
Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, Khan had his first public performance at age of 16, at his father's chelum. He became the head of the family qawwali party in 1971. He was signed by Oriental Star Agencies, Birmingham, England, in the early 1980s. Khan went on to release movie scores and albums in Europe, India, Japan, Pakistan, and the U.S.A. He engaged in collaborations and experiments with Western artists, becoming a well-known world music artist. He toured extensively, performing in over 40 countries.
Early life
Khan was born in a Punjabi family on 13 October 1948 in the city of Faisalabad,shortly after the Partition of India during which his family moved from their native city of Jalandhar, in East Punjab, India to Layallpur, West Punjab in the newly created state of Pakistan. He was the fifth child and first son of Fateh Ali Khan, a musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and Qawwal. Khan's family, which included four older sisters and a younger brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, grew up in central Faisalabad. Initially, his father did not want Khan to follow the family's vocation. He had his heart set on Khan choosing a much more respectable career path and becoming a doctor, because he felt Qawwali artists had low social status. However, Khan showed such an aptitude for, and interest in, Qawwali that his father finally relented.
In 1971, after the death of Mubarak Ali Khan, Khan became the official leader of the family Qawwali party and the party became known as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party. Khan'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. Khan sang mainly in Urdu and Punjabi and occasionally in Persian, Braj Bhasha 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 Khan's sargam improvisations.
In 1979, Khan married his first cousin, Naheed (the daughter of Fateh Ali Khan's brother, Salamat Ali Khan)they had one daughter, Nida.
Later Career
In the summer of 1985, Khan performed at the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival in London.He performed in Paris in 1985 and 1988. He first visited Japan in 1987, at the invitation of the Japan Foundation. He also performed at the 5th Asian Traditional Performing Art Festival in Japan.He also performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York in 1989, earning him admiration from the American audience.
In the 1992–93 academic year, Khan was a Visiting Artist in the Ethnomusicology department at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States.
Khan teamed with Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ in 1985, with Canadian musician Michael Brook on the albums Mustt Mustt (1990) and Night Song (1996).The team up with Peter Gabriel gave Khan the opportunity to stylize his songs by blending his qawwalis with the Western music. Khan also grouped with Pearl Jam's lead singer Eddie Vedder in 1995 on two songs for the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking.
Peter Gabriel's Real World label later released five albums of Khan's traditional Qawwali, together with some of his experimental work which included the albums Mustt Mustt and Star Rise. Khan 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.
His album Intoxicated Spirit was nominated for a Grammy award in 1997 for best traditional folk album. Same year his album Night Song was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, but lost out to The Chieftains' album Santiago.
Death
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was taken ill with kidney and liver failure on 11 August 1997 in London, England, while on the way to Los Angeles USA in order to receive a kidney transplant. He died of a sudden cardiac arrest at Cromwell Hospital, London, on Saturday, 16 August 1997, aged 48.His body was repatriated to Faisalabad, Pakistan, and his funeral was a public affair. His wife, Naheed Nusrat passed away on 13 September 2013 in Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario in Canada. Naheed had moved to Canada after the demise of her husband. She is survived by a daughter.
All Song Qawalli List of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Songs
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