'Shahenshah-e-Qawwali': World remembers Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on his birthday

Islamabad: The 73rd birthday of eminent Pakistani music maestro, qawal and playback singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is being observed on Wednesday.

Popularly known as “Shahenshah-e-Qawwali”, Khan was born on October 1948 in Faisalabad and belonged to the Patiala gharana extending the 600-year old Qawwali tradition of his family.

He introduced Qawwali to international audiences and was described as the 4th greatest singer of all time by LA Weekly in 2016.

His popularity extended, and continues to extend, far beyond geographical and linguistic barriers. The Qawwali maestro has a total of 125 albums to his name, which is the largest recorded output from any Qawwali artist.

His first major hit was the song ‘Haq Ali Ali’ while he also did joint ventures with well-known international singers.

Khan reached out to western audiences through his work with Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack to the last temptation of Christ in 1985.  

He was awarded the President of Pakistan’s Award for Pride of Performance in 1987.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was also a Visiting Artist in the Ethnomusicology department at the University of Washington and Seattle, United States.

He sang songs in several Pakistani movies as playback singer.

The music maestro passed away in London on 16 August 1997.