Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - The Last Prophet of Qawalli?

Did anyone notice SameerJB`s absence? baadshaho! awaaz diyo, kithey O?

Ferozk

Oyay Kaalay Amrikan!

I think you savo(u)r and crave such moments. Do yourself a favo(u)r and check a dictionary with Queen`s English and you may find a difference between herbivor and herbivo(u)r :)

Re: Urstruly # 1

Urstruly, the correct spelling is ``herbivores`` and not ``herbivours``.

Just a word to the wise: relax; sometimes there is nothing to read between the lines.

On the other hand, your response might be nothing more than a reflection of your own insecurities about Islam, because after all, an empty vessel does make the loudest noise!

Ciao!

To the author -

``I wonder if Allah has someone else in store for us. Yet. ``

Pls lend your ears to lesser known or practicaly unknown qawwals ``at the numerous dargahs that dot the Indian countryside``. I am sure you will find your next Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in many of them.

A very well written piece. You`ve described his voice, his music, and his style very well. Please, ignore responses like those from Urstly, and other ``proud Muslims``.

Re # veeresh

[how many of you know that NAFK is ``banned in Kashmir?``]

Hot breaking news from Mr. Malik!!

Do you remember his previous scoop? when he went out in the streets of New Dehli to investigate Quran burning...... and reported back that no such thing has happened.......

Bangaru Laxman is not the only bay sharam Indian it seems.

. . . actually, what is wrong about NAFK working out in be-bop or r&b or even (ho-hum) ``Disco`` . . . if he liked it and his listeners liked it and their tribe increased . . . how many of you know that NAFK is ``banned in Kashmir?`` Alongwith trousers and shirts and lipstick and eye-shadow and other such `orrible stuff . . .

Oh well . . .

I agree with you scout, i can conclude that u have a really good humor.

love,

adila

I prefer the traditional forms of qawwali sans jhankar. But had it not been for this jhankar based music, many of us would not have been introduced and consequently devoted to the traditional qawwali music.

eklavya #33,

thanks, to some this mix is irksome

Scout # 28

It is this mix of conservatism and liberalism that sets you apart :)

(It IS a compliment)

Pardesi,

Sat-Sri-Akal :-)

Dulla Bhatti#29 :

Thanks for the information about Bhai Chand. Last year I attended a wedding of a distant relative in Wolverhampton, (near Birmingham, UK) and a famous Pakistani film playback singer performed kirtan there (I forget her name.....). And of course, I had not known that this was referred to as the Mardana tradition in memory of one of Baba Nanak`s closest friends....thanks... :-)



Last night I opened a couple of bottles of wine and watched the Manchester concert of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan again. I have reproduced here part of the interview he conducted. The interview was in Punjabi, but I transcribed word for word the English subtitles that were provided.....



Questioner :

*Can you tell us about Qawalli and its origins?

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan :

* The tradition of Qawalli is more than one thousand years old. The tenth century Sufi saint Data Ganj Baksh wrote a well known book called ``The unveiling of the veiled`` in which he mentions Qawalli and its origins... Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan are where the form originated. The languages used were from those regions, Arabic, Farsi and so on. The lyrics, mainly poetry, were generally expressions of mystical thoughts or songs in praise of God or the Prophet. The music came to India when Sufi saints came to preach in the 12th-13th century. Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti came from Afghanistan to India and settled in Ajmer, near Delhi. At this particular time, India was the cradle of civilisation. Chisti realised that the local people liked music and dance so he used Qawalli to promote Islam to the people in India. The musical form was not called Qawalli then, but `Sama`. Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti was followed by his disciples... Qutbuddin Bhaktiar Kaki, Baba Farid Ganj-Shakar, Nizamuddin Aulia, Amir Khusro, Alauddin Sabir of Kaliar. As members of the Chisti order of Sufis they nurtured this musical form. In particular, Amir Kusro made a very important contribution in this field, and in fact he is now regarded as the originator of Qawalli. Before him the word `Sama` was used, after him it was called Qawalli. He was an innovator. He used local languages such as Parbi and Bhasha for the lyrics. He invented new musical forms by combining Arabic and Turkish music with Indian ragas. He also invented new musical forms such as qaul, qalbana, tarana, naksh, and gul. He even included new instruments such as the sitar and the tabla. So all Qawallis are following in his footsteps. They all acknowledge Amir Khusro as their master....



regards

Harpreet

hi aporup

welcome to chowk.

u shoulda mentioned the concert with mohd mehboob on our anniversary.

he was in mumbai (actually in pune) last week and asked if i could organise anything quickly at home, but usman (asian age`s racing correspondent) only told me a day before mohd was returning to hyderabad.

keep writing.

aakar

Hamidm

Now who is being lalloo paunjoo. The question that you have asked is taught at elementary classes of logic and philosophy as a classic example of Circular Reasoning. I think it actually kills the religion of rationalism and not the dogmatic one.

I wonder if you could refute ``Pascale`s Wager``-

I like most of NFAK`s work I have(unfortunately I have only part of it) but his CD called Sufi Songs which has half hour of Sultan bahu and half hour of Mian Mohammad Bakhash`s poetry is my most favourite collection of all. I won`d give up listening to that for a million bucks.

NFAK who was the younger one of many brothers and sisters and was first rejected by his father to be worth teaching music. His father used to teach a group of kids including his other sons. He will close the door and not allow NFAK inside the room but curious Nusrat would put his ears next to the gaps(cheethaN) in the door and windows and listen and grasp every word taught by his father about music. One day when his father came out suddenly for something he saw Nusrat clung to the window unaware that his father is out. His father took him inside and asked him to sing and learn to play harmonium. Rest is history.

Harpreet: There was famous Bhai Chaand who used to play kirtan in Golden Temple untill 47 and then he moved(or was made to) to Pakistan and that was end of Mardana tradition. There are still lot of traditional and classical Punjabi singers in Pakistan who have sung from gurbani particularly Alam Lohar and Shaukat Ali.

Zahra #24, ``I also abhor the pathetic pop versions. They are simply an insult. Disgusting.``

Right on dudette. There should be a law against the ``westernization`` of Ustad Nusrat`s qawwalis.

I remember sitting next to an African American man in Toronto at one of his concerts. He was swooning to the melody of ``yeh jo halka halka suroor hai.`` He didn`t understand a word, but the melody and voice were powerful enough to have that effect on him.

That`s what I call power.