Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
By J Poet
Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan is the most important qawwali (kah-wah-lee) singer to arise in the 20th century, maybe ever. Qawwali is the traditional devotional music of the Sufi sect of Islam. It’s a hypnotic, trace producing music based on sacred texts that are interpreted by a singer and his party. The party is a band consisting of harmonium [a small hand pumped organ], tabla, syncopated hand claps, and backing vocalists who respond to the lead singer’s improvisations in a manner similar to the call and response of African American gospel music. Khan was the Elvis of qawwali, the first to take it to an international audience and secularize it, but his popularity worldwide dwarfs even that of Presley. During his life he made... Read More
- City Of Origin:
- Lyallpur, Pakistan
- Genre:
- World
- Birthdate:
- 10/13/1948
- Death date:
- 08/16/1997
