I realised that since upgrading speakers a few months ago last night was the first time I had listened to one of my favourite albums by this, now deceased, singer. It just made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I then sat and worked my way through most of the rest of my collection of his albums.
For those who want to try something utterly different I cannot recommend this artist highly enough. He sings traditional Pakistani (Sufi) devotional music but produced two RealWorld albums (Night Song and Musst Musst) in conjunction with ambient producer Michael Brook which are almost indefinable but quite magnificent. I have used these as demo albums over the years and at least 2 dealers have gone out and added them to their own collections straight after! These two are produced to the impeccable standard of all RealWorld work, they also recorded some traditional albums of his.
Once heard his voice will not be forgotten, you may also recognise it from the soundtrack to Dead Man walking.
Anyone else out there enjoyed his work?
I would love to have experienced him live, apparently he produced performances of astonishing ecstatic fervour, indeed such aperformance at Womad apparently brough him first to Western acclaim. I have looked for video recordings of live performances without success.
Bruce
Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Igor Zamberlan
than to try and get hold of a five CD set from Ocora (Harmonia Mundi France) called "Concerts a Paris" which I bought this summer in France for the price of two CDs in the HMF outlet in Montpellier. It's a recording of two concerts in Paris during the Eighties, and it's absolutely stunning. My knowledge of Pakistani Islamic culture is far from enough to understand what's going on intellectually. Emotionally, it can bring me into tears...
Igor
Posted on: 13 September 2001 by Dev B
Was a genius.
Check out:
1. Must Must
2. Shahen Shah (sp?)
3. Love Songs
4. Dust to Gold
5. Shabaaz (sp?)
Pretty powerful stuff. You hear a bit of his stuff on Late Junction on Radio 3.
Dev
Posted on: 20 September 2001 by David Dever
Saw NFAK & party in late 1996 or early 1997 in Chicago (a less-used hotel-theatre venue called the Bismarck); this was before (methinks) the Michael Brook collaboration records (and likely before Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam discovered Hindustan's other export!). My friend Carl and I were probably one of five non-Pakistani members of the audience--truly a sight to see.
Shahen Shah (RealWorld catalogue numbers, anyone?) was a 50-cent record purchase for me in my college years and is suggestive of the atmosphere of the live performance I saw. Both of his nephews continue on in the same qawwali tradition, but with more commercial exposure (though I'm not certain which trendy export was more overcooked-Coleman Barks' translations/compilations of the poetry of Jalal-uddin Rumi, or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan...)
Dave Dever, NANA
