Search - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan :: Pakistan: Vocal Art of Sufis 1

One of the 1980s recordings of Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his vocal ensemble, this disc presents the ardent Sufi vocalist at his most organic and unselfconscious. In later recordings, after he grew in status from a Middle Eastern star to a Western one, one hears Nusrat's voice stripped to its driest and barest in refined studio recordings that do outstanding justice in preserving the vocal artistry and instrumentation but leave a bit to be desired in organic qawwali spirit. Qawwali is a religious musical art form whose praise for Allah develops into a wild ecstasy--and this CD captures the best of it. Just listen to the beginning of "Yadan Vichhri Sajan Diyan" as Nusrat trades call-and-response chant with what seems to be his uncle and senior singer Mujahid Mubarik Ali Khan: at once exploding with fervor, at once twisting into mourning song, at once expertly dancing up and down the scale. On this disc the ensemble takes its sweet, sweet time in burning with passionate Sufi song, and that intensity makes this recording (and its companion disc Qawwali: The Vocal Art of the Sufis II) quintessential Nusrat. --Karen Karleski