Dead Flowers

Well when you're sittin back, in your rose pink Cadillac Making bets on Kentucky Derby Day, I'll be in my basement room, with a needle and a spoon. And another girl to take my pain away -Jagger/Richards

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

The Mighty Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saheb

Khuda ka noor tujme hoo-ba-hoo hain

Khuda hain aur khuda ke baad, tu hain

To say that Nusrat was among the leading voices of the last century would not be an exaggeration. In fact he deserves that status.

He is probably the only musician whose death made me very, very sad. Maybe because I grew up listening to his music. And there have been many occasions since then that while listening to his voice, I have found it mighty hard to hold back my tears. Ah! I miss him so much.

What a tragedy that he left us when the world had just started to discover his genius. His collaboration with both old- school giants like Ry Cooder, Michael Brook and Peter Gabriel and modern rock musicians like Eddie Vedder and Massive Attack resulted in some of the best alternative music 90s had to offer. He was the only musician from the sub-continent since Pandit Ravi Shankar to qualify as a true rock star. And that is an unquestionable fact.

Fortunately, I discovered Nusrat very early in my life. It did not take me long to graduate from a casual listener to a hard- core fan. I ended up possessing huge amount of tapes and CD's. From available-at-the-paan-shop compilation tapes to not-to-be-found-anywhere-but-Jama Masjid, Delhi pirated Pakistani live show tapes (there is a tiny second hand vinyl record shop in the Jama Masjid area of Delhi which also sells these amazing tapes of his very early live shows on these small Pakistani labels).

Now to list some of his best tapes and CD's, according to me. It is a very tough job given the unstructured nature of his catalogue, but I will try.

1.Dead Man Walking- The Score
Throw that DMW soundtrack if you bought it because of Nusrat. Buy The Score instead. It has got the unedited versions of 'Face of Love' and "Long Road'. Nusrat, Vedder & Cooder (he will make you feel as if he played on 'Sister Morphine' just the other day) create sheer magic.

2.Live at The Royal Albert Hall
Because it contains some of his most popular songs in its pure and original sufi style performed at one of the most revered musical venues. Also because it was the first Nusrat live album I bought. It is now out of print.

3.Real World releases
I do not have to say anything about this series. All I can say is that if you have a fat spliff, a warm jacuzzi and one of these Real World CD's you will see the real world.

4.The pirated Pakistani tapes
For the sheer beauty of the traditional Qawwali sung in some shrine. And also because these tapes highlight how important and brilliant his backing vocalists and band members were. He would have been incomplete without them.

5.The Last Temptation of Christ soundtrack
Though not a complete Nusrat album but it is one hell of a soundtrack.



There just cannot be another Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Saheb.

SALUTE.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home