Ohhh, I can’t believe no one has noded
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, other than in a reference to the
pentatonic scale by
pingouin. I am not a
musician and am not in the least qualified to describe his music, but I will give it
my best shot because I love
Nusrat and I think he should have some mention in
Everything2.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was trained in a tradition of voice called Qawwali, a training centuries old, in which the words, wisdom and voices of Sufi’s and mystics are brought together. But Nusrat brought Qawwali out of the villages of India and into the world. His music exploded in Great Britain and the U.S. for a time and influenced such musicians as Peter Gabriel.
Umm, how do I describe Nusrat’s music? Well, Nusrat does great scat, by which I mean that he can improvize, move up and down scales, change rhythm with ease - wonderful control and a masterful sense of rhythm. In earlier recordings, he is accompanied by a band of tabla drummers and backup singers, sometimes a saxophone, but in later releases, he increased the instrumentation.
Nusrat’s final concert was held on May 4th, 1997. He died that August. I believe he trained a nephew to carry on the tradition of Qawwali, but I haven’t heard anything further about that.
I never knew exactly what he was singing about and don’t really want to know - I am not that interested in lyrics. I asked an Indian friend once, and he said that for the most part, Nusrat is saying, “Oh, please don’t be bad to each other" in various ways. In any event, there is a quality of feeling to his voice that is unique and very moving and I would highly recommend that anyone not familiar with his music listen to it. It's much fun.