Thursday, 25 February 2016

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Vol.4 (1993, K7, GPL)

OK, let's look a little further outside the African continent, from Youssou to Nusrat is faithwise not such a big step, as both use Sufi in their music.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan / نصرت فتح علی خان‎ (Urdu) / नुसरत फतह अली खान (Hindi) nicknamed "The King of Kings of Qawwali", with Qawwali being the devotional Sufi music.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Vol.4 (1993, K7)
Travelling in north-west India in 1996 picked up this K7 in Udaipur. As usual I was searching for some good local music and this one was strongly recommended by a friend who helped me find my way through this marvelous town. As the texts on the sleeve were mostly in local writing, there was very little I understood from the sleeve. But the music was and still is brilliant!!
for me understandable info from K7:
Vol.4 / Side A-B / Ahamadabad = Ahmedabad (former capital of Gujarat, India) / GPL = Gujrat Pvt. Ltd.
Language: probably Hindi, Urdu or may be local Gujarati?

So after searches on the internet didn't bring up any clues, contacted the people from NusratOnline.com, and they kindly replied with the following info:

Side A:
a1.Kamli Wale Nigahe Karam Ho Agar
      a song asking for attention from Prophet Mohammed PBUH.
      it is believed that Prophet use to wear black blanket, kamli means blanket.
a2.Saari Daulat Khuda Ki Madine Mein Hai
      a praise of God Song
      first line literally means "All of God Treasures resides in madina.."
Side B:
b1.Nami Danam
      poem by Kwaja Ameer Khusro (1253-1325)
      English translation at allpoetry.com/Nami-Danam...

The text on side of your K7 is in Hindi. Nusrat's line of work is enormous & almost impossible to collect, I must confess that even I was not knowing about the songs from Side A of this K7 before I received your mail.

Regards, NusratOnline.com

Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan - Kamli Wale Nigahe Karam Ho Agar (K7-a1, partly)

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Vol.4 (1993, K7, GPL Ahamadabad)

Later searches based on the NusratOnline info brought a discography including:
"Nigah-e-Karam Vol.21" (1981, K7)
tracklist: 1.Kamli Wale Nigah-e-Karam Ho / 2.Sari Daulat Khuda Ki Madine Main Hai / 3.Nami Danam Che Manzil Bood

So most likely my K7 is a (pirate?) copy of a cassette from 1981, that makes sense as the picture on the sleeve looks to be from a younger Nusrat, than what can be found nowadays.
Nusrat died in 1997 August, so one year after I bought this K7, here you can read his in memoriam by real world.
For his 67th birthday (2015.Oct.13) google even made this:

"the person who opened the world's ears to the rich, hypnotic sounds of the Sufis"  
Edit (2016.Feb.27):
Google statement with doodle:
“Thanks to his legendary voice, Khan helped bring "world music" to the world."
Well that's the Americentric view of things, would be much better as follows:
"With his legendary voice Khan helped the closed "western public", to open their ears to music of all parts of the world!!"

2 comments:

  1. Yes, that Cassette is Pirated, which is not surprising at all, as it is a known fact that NFAK's work has heavily been subjected to piracy in Indian-subcontinent & elsewhere. In fact, it didn't even brothered him much, as the prime motive of Spreading Sufi Music to largest possible audience was still being served.
    Thanks for posting the songs.... It was something new even for a die-hard Fan like me

    ReplyDelete
  2. =>Avnish,
    Thanks for the clarification about K7 being pirate and Nusrat's opinion about that.
    Glad to present something new, Enjoy the music!!

    ReplyDelete