Biography Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan comes from a family that has an unbroken tradition of performing qawwali for over 600 years. After the death of his father and uncle, Nusrat took center-stage and developed the form by merging it with western nuances, like techno. He would infuse various elements from the qawwali as well as folk music with western orchestration, and one of the finest examples of this blend is his blockbuster, Afreen Afreen. Further, Nusrat went on to distinguish himself from other Qawwals, by going beyond the traditional Urdu & Punjabi singing to Persian, Brajbhasha & Hindi. His first major hit in Pakistan was the song Haq Ali Ali, performed in traditional style and with traditional instrumentation. Nusrat reached out to Western audiences through his collaborations with Canadian musician, Michael Brook and his work with Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder in 1995 on the soundtrack of Dead Man Walking. He also gained popularity in the West through his contributions to the soundtrack of The Last Temptation of Christ and Natural Born Killers. An interesting fact about Nusrat when he would be out on tours was, that he would watch television commercials on the local TV 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.
Debut Year
1965
Discography
Punjabi Songs • Akhiaan Ne Jhriaan Laiaan • Ali Da Malang • Dam Mast Qalander Mast • Dhol Maahiya • Dub Dub Javey • Dil Mera • Dam Dam Ali Ali • Heere Ni Ranjha Jogi Ho Gya • Ho Javey Je Payar Te Souna • Jadon Da Toon Russ Gayon • Jhoole Jhoole Laal • Dum Masat Qalander • Kehrey Ghar Jawaan • Hai Mera Dil Le Gya Other Songs • Afreen Afreen • Akhian Udeek Diya • Intoxicated • Must Must • Night Song • Sano Aik Pal Chain • Sweet pain
Awards
Nusrat was honoured with the title Shahenshah-e-Qawwali meaning The Emperor of Qawwali.
Trivia/ Quotes
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan holds the world record for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist—a total of 125 albums in the Guinness Book of World Records. Nusrat was listed as one of the top 12 Artists and Thinkers in the last 60 years in TIME magazine's issue of November 6, 2006, "60 Years of Asian Heroes".
