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 South Asia. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, 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.
The Sabri Brothers were a musical band from Pakistan who were performers of Sufi qawwali music and were closely connected to the Chishti Order. They are considered one of the greatest Sufi qawwali singers of all times. The Sabri Brothers were led by Ghulam Farid Sabri and his brother Maqbool Ahmed Sabri. They are often referred to as Shahenshah-e-Qawwali and are also known as the roving ambassadors of Pakistan. The band was initially founded by Maqbool Ahmed Sabri at the age of 11 years and was known as the Bacha Qawwal Party. His elder brother Ghulam Farid Sabri joined after insistence from their father. He became the leader of the group, and the band soon became known as the Sabri Brothers. They were the first-ever Qawwali artists to perform qawwali in the United States and other Western countries; they were also the first-ever Asian artists to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1975.
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.
Passion – Sources is the second of two albums of music from Martin Scorsese's film The Last Temptation of Christ. The first album, Passion by Peter Gabriel, was released in 1989 in conjunction with the movie. Passion – Sources is a compilation of songs by various artists from Armenia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, India, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Senegal, and Turkey. Gabriel does not perform on the album, but produced or co-produced several tracks.
Kafi is a classical form of Sufi music in the Punjabi and Sindhi languages that originated from the Punjab and Sindh regions of South Asia. Some well-known Kafi poets are Baba Farid, Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast and Khwaja Ghulam Farid. This poetry style has also lent itself to the Kafi genre of singing, popular throughout South Asia, especially Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Over the years, both Kafi poetry and its rendition have experienced rapid growth phases as various poets and vocalists added their own influences to the form, creating a rich and varied poetic form, yet through it all it remained centered on the dialogue between the Soul and the Creator, symbolized by the murid (disciple) and his Murshid (Master), and often by lover and his Beloved.
Fateh Ali Khan Jullundhri Qawwal was a classical singer and a qawwali musician in the 1940s and 1950s.
Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan was a Pakistani musician, who played the harmonium in Qawwali music. He was also a member of a well-known family of Qawwali musicians, the Qawwal Bacchon gharana, he was the younger brother of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the son of Fateh Ali Khan, the nephew of Mubarak Ali Khan, and the father of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
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.
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.
Kris 'Chetan' Ramlu is a New Zealand musician of Fijian-Indian descent, recognized for his skills as a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and music producer. Chetan embarked on his musical journey at a young age, eventually gaining opportunities to collaborate with acclaimed artists from around the globe.
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.
Fanna-Fi-Allah is a Canadian–American group which plays Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia.
"Tumhe Dillagi" is a ghazal song written by lyricist Purnam Allahabadi and composed by prominent Sufi singer of Pakistan Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Swaraag is an Indo-Western Fusion band based in Rajasthan, India known for its traditional Rajasthani as well as western music. It comes from Swa-self, raag-raga. The band is founded by Arif Khan and Pratap Singh in 2014. The traditional music instruments such as Khartal-Morchang and Zitar make the band unique. They gained fame through his various live performances.
The Qawwal Bacchon Ka Gharana or Delhi Gharana is the oldest khayal gharana of the Hindustani Classical music tradition. It was founded by Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) and his students in the 13th century.
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. 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.
