Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan – The Man behind Qawwali

If NFAK was the thunder that entranced the world, Farrukh was the rain of melody that followed……

“Nusrat is now the symbol of the family name and its tradition. He is the prestige that has been brought to our house. His popularity and the respect he commands has immortalized our family. Nusrat is a living legend.I think of only one thing, That may Allah reward him more and more with greater honour.  Honours such as have not been received by any other artiste. We consider his honour to be ours and his unprecedented popularity to be our own. Our hearts beat for each other, we feel each other’s pain and pleasure. We may have different names and bodies but our hearts beat as one.”

These were the words of Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan when he was asked about NFAK’s unimaginable success. Farrukh was the driving soul of the party , A man with a great voice with varying texture, a prodigy of music and the greatest Harmonium player of his era , he even composed many of NFAK songs, though Nusrat always tried to credit him as the “Music Director of Ensemble”  he never took any credit… the pious soul was happy with what he had, and was forever thankful to god for being NFAK’s Brother. Farrukh was a great classical singer too, it he did many solo Jugalbandis with NFAK . He frequently used to beautify NFAK’s improvisations with his “Textured Alaap” .. very often Nusrat used to praise him in between song by nodding his head or sometimes even saying “Subhaan Allah” . He very easily used to cover the mistakes of other party members and was great at tune transitions.

Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan , BBC, London, 1988

Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan was always considered more mature than Nusrat, why? he was the man who always new what was best for the Party.. .. there were times during their initial struggle, when Nusrat broke down , It was Farrukh who kept the hope alive in NFAK…during those days….

Once NFAK rightly described farrukh as his eyes with which world became a lot  more beautiful to look upon.

Farrukh greatness was best seen at the time when a tearful Nusrat Asked him to give Rahat to him as a son….. and he replied that he was always your son first ….

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