Birth anniversary of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan observed

LAHORE (92 News) – The 70th birth anniversary of world renowned Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was observed on Friday. The legend Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born on October 13‚ 1948 in Faisalabad. He was the fifth child and first son of Fateh Ali Khan, a musician, vocalist, instrumentalist, and Qawwal. He was a singer of Qawwali and considered one of the greatest singers ever recorded; he possessed a six-octave vocal range and could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. Extending the 600-year old Qawwali tradition of his family, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is widely credited with introducing Sufi music to international audiences. He was popularly known as Shahenshah-e-Qawwali, meaning the King of Kings of Qawwali. He also did music projects with India music composer A R Rehman and film lyricist Javed Akhtar. He reached out to western audiences through his work with Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ in 1985. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan holds the world record for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist–a total of 125 albums as of 2001. The maestro died tragically in 1997 but who would believe that, given how his songs are still played at every event in Pakistan, India and worldwide.