Chain of Light | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 20 September 2024 | |||
Recorded | April 1990 | |||
Studio | Real World, England | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 41:00 | |||
Label | Real World | |||
Producer | Michael Brook | |||
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan chronology | ||||
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Chain of Light is a studio album by Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, published posthumously on 20 September 2024. The album features four traditional qawwali compositions recorded in 1990. It remained unreleased until rediscovered in 2021, after being lost for 27 years. [1] [2] Produced by Michael Brook under the label Real World Records, the album is a part of Khan's collaborations, which began after his appearance at the WOMAD festival. [3]
The title Chain of Light, is taken from a phrase within one of the Sufi devotional poems featured on the record. However, the context and its authorship remains uncertain. The tracks on Chain of Light remained unreleased and were lost for several years before being rediscovered during an archival reorganization. [4]
In 2021, the tapes for Chain of Light were rediscovered by one of the employees of the Real World Records Odhrán Mullan while cataloguing items in the archives of Real World Records after the company moved to a new location. [5] The tapes were stored at Real World Records' archive, which included World War II-era Nissen huts. [6] Mullan had previously been told that Khan was one of the greatest singers, but he did not appreciate it until listening to the tapes himself. Before being digitized, the tapes had to be carefully treated. Due to their age, they were slightly heated to remove moisture, as playing them directly would have caused damage. [5]
These recordings were remastered with the possibilities for a representation of his musical style during the period of his career. [6]
Khan's association with Real World Records began following his performance at the 1985 WOMAD festival, where his qawwali style gained the attention of Peter Gabriel. This led to a collaboration between the two, with Khan contributing to Gabriel's 1989 album Passion , which was the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). This partnership helped elevate Khan's profile outside Pakistan. This collaboration played a central role in working on Chain of Light album. [2]
The album was recorded in April 1990 at Real World Studios in Box, a village in the Cotswolds, UK. This was during the same period that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was collaborating with Canadian producer Michael Brook on Mustt Mustt . [7] The recordings took place following Khan's collaboration with Peter Gabriel. [3]
While some of the material from this session was released on albums such as Mustt Mustt (1990) and Night Song (1996), the tracks that make up Chain of Light remained unreleased at the time. [6]
The album features Khan on vocals and harmonium, with his musical group Nusrat Khan Fateh Ali & Party, comprised eight members, including brother Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, tabla virtuoso Dildar Hussain, and chorus team including Mujahid Ali, Rehmat Ali, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (nephew), Asad Ali, Khalid Mahmood, Ghulam Farid Sabri. [7]
It features traditional qawwali compositions, with Khan's team providing backing vocals. The ten minutes-long opening track, "Ya Allah Ya Rehman", follows the familiar structure of traditional qawwali, with Khan's vocals leading a rhythmic tabla groove and a harmonium. [3] The track features Urdu language which is originally sung by Khan himself. [8]
The second track, "Aaj Sik Mitran Di", begins with a slow tempo, before making way into fast-paced vocal improvisations in sargam (syllabic vocalization). The third track, "Ya Gaus Ya Meeran", is a nine-minute composition noted for its vocal complexity and devotional poetry of Sufism. It features tempos and rhythmic patterns throughout, featuring Khan's ability to intricate counterpoint and harmony. [3] Khan utilized varied musical interpretation through the track.
The fourth and the last track titled "Khabram Raseed Imshab" features Khan's different vocal range, traits for which he was known. [9] Its lyrics are derived from a Persian poem also titled Khabram Raseed Imshab by Amir Khusrau, a 13th century Indian Persian-language poet. [4] It is originally sung by Khan's father Fateh Ali Khan and his uncle [8] whose name is not known.
The launch of Chain of Light, described as a "lost album" by Variety , [1] Rolling Stone , [10] and The Telegraph , [11] among others, was hosted in Pakistan. The project was a collaboration between Pakistan-based Saiyna Bashir Studios and Peter Gabriel's Real World Records.
Supported by the British Council, a series of launch events were organized in various cities, including Islamabad, Pakistan. [12] It was released in Manchester on 10 September 2024, and Birmingham on 11 September. The album launch event was later organized in Paris on 13 September. The final pre-release took place in London, UK on 19 September 2024. It was officially dropped on 20 September 2024. [13]
The Guardian ranked it the top global album of 2024. [14]
Music critic Suanshu Khurana from The Indian Express described the album as "a gift to the world" with 4/5 rating. [6]
Writing for The Guardian in 2024, reviewer Ammar Kalia described Chain of Light as "...provides an extraordinary example of Khan's voice" with 5/5 rating. [3]
While referring to the album release, Pakistani daily newspaper The Express Tribune described it as "a treasure trove of unreleased recordings". [15]
All tracks are composed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Khan features in the lead vocals, while Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party members perform vocals in the background. Tracks are produced by Michael Brook [7] [16] [17] and recorded by David Bottrill.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Ya Allah Ya Rehman" | Ahmed Raza Qadri | 10:47 |
2. | "Aaj Sik Mitran Di" | Pir Meher Ali Shah | 9:58 |
3. | "Ya Gaus Ya Meeran" | Naseeruddin Naseer Gilani | 9:32 |
4. | "Khabram Raseed Imshab" | Amir Khusrau | 11:28 |
Total length: | 41:00 [7] |
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, also known by his initials NFAK, was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Often referred to as the "Shahenshah-e-Qawwali", he is considered by The New York Times as the greatest qawwali singer of his generation and as the fourth greatest singer of all time by LA Weekly in 2016. He was known for his vocal abilities and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. Khan is widely credited with introducing Qawwali music to international audiences. He was also a master of Hindustani classical music.
Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in Hindustan. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout Hindustan, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has also gained mainstream popularity and an international audience as of the late 20th century.
Real World Records is a British record label specializing in world music. It was founded in 1989 by English musician Peter Gabriel and original members of WOMAD. A majority of the works released on Real World Records feature music recorded at Real World Studios, in Box, Wiltshire, England.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is a Pakistani singer, primarily Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the most popular and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, son of Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan and grandson of Qawwali singer Fateh Ali Khan. In addition to Qawwali, he also performs ghazals and other light music. He is also well-known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema and the Pakistan film industry.
Fateh Ali Khan Jullundhri Qawwal was a classical singer and a qawwali musician in the 1940s and 1950s.
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Rizwan-MuazzamQawwali is a Pakistani Qawwali group led by Rizwan and Muazzam, the nephews of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Since 1998, they had stage performances at several World of Music, Arts and Dance Festivals in the United Kingdom and have released multiple albums showcasing their rich musical heritage.
Filmi qawwali is a form of qawwali music found in the Lollywood, Dhallywood, Tollywood, and Bollywood film industries.
Mustt Mustt is the first Qawwali fusion album collaboration between singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and guitarist and producer Michael Brook, although the album itself is credited purely to Khan. It was rock musician Peter Gabriel who suggested that Brook and Khan work together. It was released in 1990 on Gabriel's Real World Records label.
Dildar Hussain is a Pakistani percussionist and tabla player. He is known for being the left handed tabla player for late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a renowned Qawwali singer. Dildar Hussain played tabla for him in his qawwali-singing group until Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died in 1997. Dildar Hussain belongs to the Punjab gharana of tabla-playing music artists. He is a shagird of Ustad Allah Rakha. Dildar Hussain plays the tabla left-handed
Night Song is a collaborative studio album by Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Canadian ambient musician, guitarist and producer Michael Brook. Recorded in 1995 and released in 1996 on Real World Records, it was Khan's last album released on the label during his lifetime. Khan and Brook had previously collaborated for Mustt Mustt (1990), a critically acclaimed world fusion album said to have led Pakistani youth to discover Sufi religious music. The two had not worked for some time but collaborated again for a new album in 1995, naming the album Night Song. The album was produced by Brook, who developed an innovative but difficult production process for the album. Khan recorded improvisations for the album, and Brook had to decide which sections, some of which were an hour long, were the best and how they were going to fit together, without having a structural point of reference to start with or aim towards. He had components recorded on multi-track tapes, and created each track part by part, overdubbing his instrumentation atop of it, a manual process that predated easy forms of digital editing.
Devika Chawla, known by her Artist Identity "Devika" is a US based singer / songwriter of Indian origin known for her unique voice and soulful performances. While she has trained in Hindustani classical music, she has always been at the forefront of fusion between Indian folk/classical melody & lyrics and a western sound.
Muzaffar Warsi was a Pakistani poet, essayist, lyricist, and a scholar of Urdu. He began writing more than five decades ago. He wrote a rich collection of na`ats, as well as several anthologies of ghazals and nazms, and his autobiography Gaye Dinon Ka Suraagh. He also wrote quatrains for Pakistan's daily newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt.
Most of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's early music was recorded with Rehmat Gramophone House later turned RGH Label. Throughout the ’70s and early ’80s Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan released hundreds of cassettes, most of them containing one or two lengthy songs. Chris Nickson, of Global Rhythm, argues that trying to make order of Khan's entire discography would be a nightmare.
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party, also known as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Qawwali Party, was a Pakistani qawwali musical group, led by singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The group is credited with popularizing the genre of Sufi devotional music outside South Asia. Under the core lineup of Nusrat, the group earned international recognition, performing in major cultural venues and collaborating with artists from various musical traditions. They introduced various musical techniques, such as fusion with traditional qawwali, which contributed to the evolution of the genre. Active during the 20th century, their contributions to world music is recognised one of the prominent contributions in the history of Sufi music. The core lineup of the group comprised Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, Dildar Hussain, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Nusrat himself.