Music & Movies / People

The Greatest Sufi Qawwal that ever lived…

by Ravi Magazine · Published 9th May 2018 · Updated 9th May 2018

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

It is difficult to find any Qawwal who:

1. Composed more than 200 albums despite living a extremely short life.

2. Had an unbelievable vocal frequency that actually flustered the studio recording artists as they had to re-tune their machines to captures his exceptional vocal range.

3. Raised the genre of Qawwali from India and Pakistan to lands as far as Hollywood, Japan and Russia. For the first time, Sufi Music joined the world stage as a proper genre.

It is easy to answer to answer this since Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan remains the only Qawwal who ticks all these boxes, which speaks volumes of his genius. Nusrat Sahib raised singing of Kalam of Bulleh Shah to an unprecedented level, whether it is Baba Bulleh Shah’s famous Mera Piya Ghar Aya or the amazing Gal Ek Nukte Wich Mukdi Hai.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had great respect for Hazrat Imam Hussain and Hazrat Ali, which is evident from his evergreen Qawwali such as Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam, which has heart touching lyrics:

Ali Noo Yaad Karo,

Ral Ke Faryaad Karo

Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam (7:44)

Besides Sufi Music, Nusrat Fateh was equally adept at Ghazals, many of which had Sufiana Rang also. There are 2 such ghazals that still remain as fresh as always:

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s untimely death left a vacuum that is hard to fill. Rahat Fateh Ali vocal ability is amazing however, the genius compositions of Nusrat Sahib is something we still miss as all these artists keep remixing the same songs NFAK.