Remembering Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on his 22nd death anniversary

The 22nd death anniversary of world renowned Pakistani musician and Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is being observed today.

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.

Nusrat sahab 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 Indian 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.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was taken ill with kidney and liver failure on August 11‚ 1997 in London.

He died of a sudden cardiac arrest at Cromwell Hospital‚ London‚ August 16‚ 1997 at the age of 48.

Initially, Nusrat’s father did not want him to follow the family’s vocation.

He had his heart set on Nusrat choosing a much more respectable career path and becoming a doctor or engineer because he felt Qawwali artists had low social status.