Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khanwas 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"...
NationalityPakistani
ProfessionMusician
CountryPakistan
I was just studying with my father, a very difficult task for me since he was a great, great Qawwali singer.
I also like Western classical music and jazz.
The musical instuments may be western but my voice never wavers away from my own ragas. it is good to make experiments and I do a lot of them but my thoughts always round the centre and that centre is the tradition of my elders and it is classical music..
Nusrat is one of the greatest singers of our time. When his singing takes off, his voice embodies soulfulness and sprituality like no other.
People say that love is easy, but love spares nothing and no-one.
When I sing for God, I feel myself in accord with God, and the house of God, Mecca, is right in front of me. And I worship. When I sing for Mohammed, peace be upon him, our prophet, I feel like I am sitting right next to his tomb, Medina, and paying him respect and admitting to myself that I accept his message.
To be a qawwal is more than being a performer, more than being an artist,One must be willing to release one's mind and soul from one's body to achieve ecstasy through music. Qawwali is enlightenment itself.
I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.
On the fortieth day after his death, we held the ceremony, and I performed for the very first time.
In his day, the audience was well aware of the music, of the classical beat.
I do listen to other music though, and try to pick up what is good.
These three elements are called Qawwali, and they've got to be there.
He didn't want me to become a musician, he wanted me to be a doctor, because he said singing was too hard.
Yes, you've got to sing from the depths of the heart.