 Ustad
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is a prominent Pakistani singer famous around the
world. He was born to a distinguished family from Jalandhar with a 600
year-long tradition of performing qawwali, Islamic songs of praise.
His deceased father and uncles are still remembered as great masters of
qawwali. Mr. Nusrat began to seriously pursue a qawwali career only after
the death of his father. However, since his debut in 1965 as the lead
singer of his group, he has distinguished himself as a qawwal--a
singer of qawwali music. He is now known as the "Shahansha-e Qawwali"--the
King of Qawwali. Mr. Nusrat continues to perform qawwali in religious
rites--the original form in which qawwali is sung--at mausoleums of revered
saints in Pakistan, which at the same time giving concerts at more conventional
venues. In 1979, he was accorded the rare honor of performing inside one
of the most prestigious shrines in the subcontinent, the shrine of Sufi
Saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, India. The superb singing talent and
musical skill of this great master of qawwali, along with his strong command
of Urdu, Farsi (Persian), and his native language, Punjabi, have enabled
him to sing the mystic poetry written in these languages with fluency
and expressiveness. He is also famous for his unparalleled repertoire,
which extends to several thousands of songs. In appreciation of his excellence,
the Government of Pakistan awarded him the President's Pride of Performance
in Art in 1987.
In the summer of 1985,
Mr. Nusrat performed at the World Music Arts and Dance festival (WOMAD)
in London, where he stood out as the most promising singer. After the
success of that summer, he began to perform his music without regard to
genre or tradition. His various experimentations, such as the use of scat-like
singing improvisation, bought a fresh breeze into the traditional world
of qawwali. This new openness led to the popularization of Sufi music
across both geographical and musical boundaries. His concerts in Paris
in 1985 and 1988 were received with great enthusiasm as his amazing vocal
performances produced a craze for his music throughout Europe. His first
visit to Japan took place in 1987, at the invitation of the Japan Foundation.
His participation in seminars and his performances at the 5th Asian Traditional
Performing Art Festival and subsequent concerts in Japan have earned him
a steadily increasing number of fans in this country. He has also released
several CDs in Japan, and performed in a number of successful large-scale
concerts all over the world.
Ustad Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khan's accomplishments have contributed both to the succession and
advancement of the qawwali tradition, and to the popularization of South
Asia's outstanding traditional music culture around the world. Moreover,
he has brought innovation into the sphere of the qawwali by taking advantage
of his artistic gifts and flexibility to transcend the rules imposed by
tradition. These achievements, taken together, have had an immeasurable
impact on cultural exchange between the East and the West; led to the
enhancement of both cultures, and thus make Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
particularly worthy of receiving the Arts and Culture Prize of the Fukuoka
Asian Cultural Prizes. |
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