NusratForever.com

Question:What is your favorite song?
Nusrat: “Allahoo” because it is in praise of Allah (God).

Question:What does “Mastt Qalander” mean? Who is “Ali Ali”? Why do people go into trance-like states when they hear this song? Is there any symbolism between this song and the life of the son-in-law (Ali) of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)?
Nusrat: Mastt Qalander is a high ecstasy of spirituality in which you lose yourself. Ali is the son-in-law of the Prophet (PBUH). He was a caliph in the early years of Islam. (more…)

Comments(11)

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( interview with pakistani qawwali singer )
Author/s: Jeff Buckley
Issue: Jan. 1996

Pakistani Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan drives people wild with his music, which is an unbelievable combination of rich, soaring, complex sounds including something that is hard to describe but reminds us of yodeling. His music has been featured on movie soundtracks and in concert halls around the world, and his ecstatic voice haunts all who hear it. Here, the sensational singer Jeff Buckley talks with the man who has, for so long, inspired him

Born in a region where music is as much of a birthright as breathing, singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is held to be the brightest star in Qawwali, a form of Islamic devotional music, in all of Pakistan - “bright,” that is, as in blinding. A vocal art over seven centuries old, Qawwali is passed down orally from father to son (in rare cases to daughters) by Sufi masters. Sufism is a Muslim philosophical and literary movement dating back to the tenth century. Borrowing tenets from other world religions, including Buddhism and Christianity, this mystical order stresses the personal union of the soul with God through poetry and symbolism.
(more…)

Comments(6)