Search - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan :: Swan song

Swan song
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Swan song
Genres: Dance & Electronic, International Music, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (4) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (6) - Disc #2

It's difficult to determine what the thinking was behind adding a drum kit, bass, synthesizer, and saxophone to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's ensemble for what became his final concert in May 1997. Perhaps it was naiveté, p...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Title: Swan song
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Virgin Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/1998
Re-Release Date: 4/12/2006
Album Type: Import
Genres: Dance & Electronic, International Music, Pop
Styles: World Dance, Far East & Asia, India & Pakistan, India, Pakistan
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 724349775022

Synopsis

Amazon.com
It's difficult to determine what the thinking was behind adding a drum kit, bass, synthesizer, and saxophone to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's ensemble for what became his final concert in May 1997. Perhaps it was naiveté, perhaps poor taste, but whatever the thinking was, the choice reduced the most revered religious singer of our time to the functional equivalent of a Western nightclub act dressed in powder-blue threads crooning at the Luxor in Las Vegas. The praise song "Allah Hoo," regularly sung to open Nusrat's concerts, holds back the qawwali party in a cutesy rhythm designed for folks to clap merrily along to rather than encourage the ensemble to blast off into heated ecstasy. It's hard to figure out who this concert is aimed at: Nusrat purists will run away screaming, and ambient fans of his work with Michael Brook and Peter Gabriel (which now seems tasteful beside this recording) will cringe. One wonders why this mystic Sufi who dedicated his life to praising God through traditional Islamic song allowed accompaniment from swishing high hat à la the Bee Gees' "Night Fever" disco heights--where the tabla is played as if a bongo or conga. What's even more amazing is how this concert ended up sounding so Western when recorded in Pakistan, home of Islam and Nusrat's most devout Muslim followers. Perhaps it'll be smooth jazzers who will adore the funky kooka-munga rhythms and "saxy" jazz lines played on electric piano and sax here. Apparently this was the inevitable commercial direction Nusrat was being led in before he died in August 1997, but it's still unfortunate that this label had to let us in on the dirty little secret. For an outstanding sample of Nusrat's work, check out Real World's Shahbaaz. --Karen Karleski

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CD Reviews

Nusrat is the Best, but this album isn't very good
Chris Green | 09/27/2000
(2 out of 5 stars)

"Sadly this recording is the final performance of my beloved Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - a man whose voice and passion made me believe in the purity and power of life. The CD isn't as bad as the review indicates, but it certainly isn't the best of Nusrat available. Shabazz, Mustt Mustt, Night Song, any of these albums offer a better picture of his music. I do agree with the review in that these arraingements of his songs don't seem as "his" as others do. They are radical departures from his signature style and don't really allow the listener to experience his voice as is; including too much out-of-context accompaniment (a saxophone? please, never again...) and generally being overproduced, robbing the songs of one of their best qualities - always having the emotion of being spontaneous. I love Nusrat and his music, but I recommend skipping this recording in favor of almost any other."
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Swan Song
Anthony Phillips | Chicago, IL United States | 09/29/2003
(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is a badly produced concert recording with very poor sound: unbalanced, with screeching feedback recurring all the way through; no microphone anywhere close to the master, so that the nuances of his voice are barely heard. Various Nusrat Ali Khan chestnuts are performed augmented with pop musicians playing western instruments in jazzy style with an incessant and unvarying beat. There is also electronic funny business on top of it all. The music is exciting and hysterically driven like a lot of pop music from middle eastern countries, very unlike the soul driven, elastic movement of the traditional Sufi Qawwali music that made Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan the great natural musician that he was. As intense as that music was, it was always spiritually founded, always balanced. Here, he sounds a little breathless, as though he is being rushed along by the speed of a train. His swan song? I can't help but wonder if the very commercial production of this concert didn't just push this Sufi master off the edge of the planet?"
The amazon review is disgusting
Hayley | Los Angeles | 02/16/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This may not be Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's prime work, but it also isn't bad. The vocals are in top form. The backing musicianship does not have the cheesy Vegas night club feel that Karen Karleski characterizes it as having. Also, since when were Pakistani's averse to using modern instruments? I agree with the reviewer that said Ms. Karen Karleski's review reeks of chauvinism. Those who actually enjoy Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for what he is, can enjoy the last piece of work that the master left for his audience."