Writings on the Qawal

>> The torch is passed to Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

The shadow of a renowned forebear is a tough place to live--just ask Julian Lennon or Ziggy Marley. Now just imagine the shadow cast by the late, great, girthful and glorious Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Nusrat was an astoundingly gifted qawal--that is, a singer in the qawali style of Islamic Sufi music from the Indian subcontinent, comparable in some ways to the gospel music of American blacks. Its name is derived from the Arabic word qaol, meaning a dictum, an axiom, a universally-accepted truth. Originally, it was not only an expression of spiritual passion but, in the way of the Sufis, a direct means of achieving fana (enlightenment) through hal (the trance state) for both the musicians and the audience.

Nusrat not only earned the devotion of muslims in Pakistan and elsewhere, he served as qawali's ambassador to the Western world. With the help of Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Canadian guitarist Michael Brook and Def Jam's Rick Rubin, Nusrat made qawali part of our musical lexicon.

Sadly, Nusrat left our world in August, '97. The torch he lit has been passed to his nephew Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a 27-year-old man ready to meet the challenge. Nusrat was a guru to him, as was his own father Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, and all three are in the lineage of qawali legend Fateh Ali Khan. As tradition dictates, qawali is a family affair.

"I was seven years old," recalls Rahat, "when I started to accompany my father and late uncle. Both were from the same school of thought in music, called Gharana. Because my grandfather and great-grandfather were also great qawals of their times, qawali music is in our blood.

"I believe in struggle and hard work based on my inheritance, in creating a different individual line, in making my own compositions and poetry. People around the globe still want me to sing our family songs, but I always add my own qawali songs to every concert."

As with his uncle, Rahat finds himself on the American label, with Rick Rubin in the producer's chair--yeah, the guy who first reconciled hip hop and metal as parallel voices of youthful frustration. This isn't all that disconcerting when you consider qawali's history; Around 1300 AD, musician/statesman Amir Khusru imported elements from Turkey, Persia and Indian raags, while early Bollywood altered the performer/audience relationship in qawali, leading to an increasingly secular tone. Already given to both religious and secular expression, in Urdu, Persian, Hindi and Punjabi, it can be argued that qawali is again undergoing an evolution.

"I like to work with a Western producer and others outside of the Islamic world, but qawali itself has a unique depth and growth, so every individual can be absorbed by this music. My uncle made a few alterations within the boundaries of qawali, and there is always room for constructive change in Western music. Qawali is becoming more and more a music of the modern world."

At Cinema Décarie 2000 (6900 Décarie, metro Namur) on Saturday, August 4, 7:30pm, $40