JIM WASHBURN | THE TIMES
Nusrat & His of Love & Peace
Unlike many popular singers who have wildly animated styles, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan performs seated, as implacably planted on the stage floor as a bean-bag chair. But though he may be rooted to the spot physically, the Pakistani singer’s voice launches into incredible, propulsive flights of melismatic abandon as he strains to embody the content of his songs, and his hands and arms often gesticulate and fly with the emotion of his singing.
It was a late Friday afternoon in 1990 when I got a call at the Los Angeles Times office inviting me to see a show by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan that evening. The qawwali master was performing in, of all places, a conference room at the LAX Airport Hilton, headlining a benefit to help build a cancer hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, hosted by that nation’s cricket hero Imran Khan.
Bombay Streets Album Cover
How Shekhar Kapoor Prepares for Directing a scene?
Well, he panics .. and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s Music hovers in his mind, increasing the chaos, and the output is Brilliant Creativity.
“The Power of not knowing drives him.. I strongly believe that the same power used to drive Nusrat too”
Karsh Kale & Vishal Vaid – A Tribute To Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Vocalist Vishal Vaid and multi-instrumentalist Karsh Kale marked the 10th anniversary of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s untimely passing during a sold-out performance of the master’s music at Joe’s Pub in New York City. The concert began as Vaid explained the influence that Ali Khan had on the careers of those on stage that night, and reminisced of spending time with the man himself, hanging out during late hours in Vancouver over a decade ago.