Ms Moles has spent lockdown partly doing deep dives on artists – listening to one artists albums on repeat until she is confident she knows their work well. Having done Radiohead the logical next step is of course….Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. But where (via Spotify) to start? Suggestions for essential albums, compilations or playlists please. She tells me ‘maybe ten hours worth’ is what we’re aiming for.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan recommendations plese
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Time for my compulsory and sole Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan anecdote. The one and only time we saw him was at the second WOMAD in a field in Essex. We listened for an hour, drifted to the main stage, saw the entire New Order set, then returned to find him it seems only just getting started.
I can’t say I’ve played them in a while, but I was slightly surprised to find as many as 4 if his CDs on my shelves. My rusty memories, which I will have to refresh soon, are –
Mustt Mustt – Where I came in, a selection deliberately designed to be an introduction friendlier to ears more used to western music. It even included a Massive Attack remix of the title track
Night Song – A collaboration with Michael Brook, another fusion collection with lots of ambient sounds and beats
Rapture, An Essential Selection – more ‘authentic’ than the Real World albums. Maybe not for the newcomer but I remember being my go to when I played this stuff more
Love Songs – I have no recollection of this at all, but Amazon reviews are positive and there are second hand copies for a quid so what do you have to lose?
Musst Musst is usually regarded as a highpoint – by his Asian fans as well as hip European music critics – and a pretty accessible starting point as an introduction to his music. No knowledge of Urdu required.
This is a very pleasant way to pass 10 minutes on a sunny Sunday. The title translates as “Listen for a Moment”:
Shahen-Shah
Darren Lock is a middle aged, bald beardy chap who talks a lot about music, especially prog. He is, dear male Afterworders, you. (Not me. Uh-uh. I have a fine head of hair, thank you very much.) Anyway, I recall he mentioned in one of his videos* that the collaboration with Michael Brook, Night Song, was his favourite album of all time ever. And he should know.
*unfortunately, my research budget won’t allow me to search for the specific video
https://www.youtube.com/user/ProgReview/featured
If you haven’t listened to a lot of Qawwali before, then I’d say the 2 best entry-points to NFAK would be:
– Musst Musst
– Night Song
Both are accessible and really good.
For more proper-job Qawwali, I’d recommend:
– Devotional and Love Songs
This is, IMHO, the best way in. And also the best way forward from there.
Good calls @duco01
That sounds like my experience of the Grateful Dead’s monumental live gig in Oakland many years ago I went off for a meal and when they got back they were still playing the same song.
I think a YT clip might be the best intro to Nusrat. I was lucky enough to see him once at the extremely inappropriate Gino nightclub in Stockholm. The songs were very long, repetitive and trance-like and built up to extraordinary moments of religious ecstasy. Quite an remarkable experience.
One needs to give the music time and sink into it.
Nusrat did not release any singles!!
Night Song is the one I have and very good it is. The other one I have is the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking. He has two collaborations on it and it’s a great album, but unfortunately it’s not on Spotify.
The catalogue is daunting – good luck
Here is an excellent piece from Anastasia Tsioulcas of NPR ostensibly about the Live at Womad 1985 album on Real World.
It also serves as an excellent introduction to Nusrat and reminded me what a giant talent he was.
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/18/742609329/nusrat-fateh-ali-khans-voice-offers-a-sonic-refuge
I suspect your daughter would find it a useful read, Mosely.
She makes an excellent point about about how the rise of the Jihadis and 9/11 have changed everything.
Well I never! Just stumbled across this duet with Peter Gabriel. Heady stuff.
And now for something completely bonkers From Womad 1985, here are all the artists having a knees up together on the final night. At 6.00 you can see Nusrat sitting in the midst of all the frolicking, looking a tad perplexed but coping rather well with all the showbiz shenanigans,
He’s not Krokus.
Nobody but Krokus could be Krokus.
Some might opine that this is a good thing.
I agree.
There are heaps and heaps of albums not released internationally. Mst sound fantastic. Often it is the quality of the recording that ranks them.
The real world records (Gabriel’s label) all sound great.
Shahen Shah is the most authentic for mine then Love Songs. If you really like Pakistani Sufi music -check out the Sabri Brothers.
MusstMusst is the most accessible and popular, shorter more Westernised. I think there is a longer more traditional version too.
The Michael Brooks collaboration is excellent as well.
Agree also on the Dean Man Walking Soundtrack is great especially the extended version on the deluxe release. Here he is with Eddie Vedder.
This doc will be of interest..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BOZY_O0OX4
And the AW’s Urdu speakers will enjoy this interview.
A female journalist with no headscarf: the details are very telling even if one cannot understand a word!
?? All women in Pakistan wear headscarves? Oh dearie me KFD, what did we say about assumptions?
It’s a fair cop, Office Moose, I’ll come quietly.
Th YT comments can be rather interesting. Nusrat taught female students.
I just stumbled across a few interesting clips.
An all-female, international Qwwalli ensemble.
The Noonan Sisters: they really have the feel right to my mind.
And finally…
“A Sufi song, sung by a Tamil girl, composed by a Muslim and performed in a Church.”
The singer is Abi Samap.
Wow. The Nooran Sisters absolutely NAIL the song. So powerful. Wonderful.
I saw Alaap at St. George’s in Bristol a while back, and this was their encore song – the place went absolutely mental!
Re: Nooran Sisters.
Agreed. Superb.
Gets all very complicated the role of music in Islam. As one devotee comments:
Lest this seem clickbait trolling, please also note the very real threat to some of the Malian griot tradition and kora playing, by hard line fundamentalism. In conservative islam, only devotional vocal music is allowed, as musical instruments are deemed haram.
Rather interesting article about Nusrat from a Pakistani perspective.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/557772-writing-a-legend-nusrat-fateh-ali-khan
He was more written about internationally than he was at home.
But Pakistan did honour him with a postage stamp!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pakistan-Stamps-1999-Ustad-Nusrat-Fateh-Ali-Khan-Qawwal-MNH-/293599005797
This doc could be worth looking out for:
https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/veranstaltung/p_116814.php
Trailer looks promising..
This Real World promo contains an interesting interview with Michael Brook.
I was curious about how Peter Gabriel first made contact with Nusrat.
The answer lies in Birmingham: Oriental Star Agencies. The label was responsible was popularising bhangra and other styles from India and Pakistan.
https://www.desiblitz.com/content/muhammad-ayub-founder-oriental-star-agencies
Here is one their hits.
Talking of Birmingham, Nusrat once appeared on the BBC’s Pebble Mill at One lunchtime programme. He couldn’t do the full version of “Allah Hoo Allah Hoo”, because that takes, like, HOURS to perform, so he gave them a drastically abridged 6-minute version:
Pebble Mill at One. No matter how harsh lockdown has been, at least that isn’t on any more. The nylonest programme in history.
As part of my Digital TV Studio course at BBC Wood Norton (the Beeb’s training centre near Evesham), I was once a camera operator on Pebble Mill at One. Deacon Blue were the musical turn. I’m not sure which of us thought it was more surreal. My shonky camerawork was forgiven due to nobody in the audience actually giving a stuff.
Nusrat on Pebble Mill did not sound so promising.
But watching the clip, I think they did a rather decent job of filming the performance.
Props to him for accepting a rather difficult gig and to them for presenting him so well. For someone who has never heard of Nusrat, that clip is a pretty decent introduction.
Like Andrew Marr on Sunday, Pebble Mill had surprisingly good musical guests.
Paul Shane, for example.
One thing that has struck me, reading about Oriental Star Agencies, is what a powerhouse Birmingham and the Midlands are music from India and Pakistan.
That reminded me of Terry Hall’s excellent album with Mushtaq: The Hour of Two Lights.
Recommended!
Birmingham is often touted, by my Pakistani chums, as being one of the bigger cities in Pakistan. Not small in Bangla Desh either. India, Caribbean and Hong Kong, less so. Pretty big in Somalia, Poland and Romania. Probably still one of Eire’s biggest.
Fabulously multicultural; a delight to have worked in for 3 decades.