“Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died August 16th in London of complications from diabetes. While his popularity has risen of late in the west due to his collaborations with Michael Brook and Peter Gabriel, and the use of his music in popular films, his star never set in Pakistan and India, where his death was felt by hundreds of thousands of sad hearts. He was a singer of power and ecstasy. ”

Because of music’s undeniable power to move the human body as well as the spirit, religions that abhor the tendencies of the flesh have always treated music with suspicion. Many cultures that are dominated by such religions have developed dual musical modes, sacred versus secular, segregating each kind to its proper place and purpose, the church versus the dance hall, the temple versus the brothel, the “Ave Maria” versus Madonna. Continue reading →