The birth anniversary of the legendary ‘qawwali’ maestro Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan will be observed on Saturday (13th October).
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born in Faisalabad on 13th October 1948. The great singer and musician died at the age of 48 on 16th August 1997.
The government of Pakistan bestowed Pride of Performance on the legendary singer in 1987 for his contribution to Pakistani music.
He was also honored with the prestigious UNESCO Music Prize.
His massive hit 'Dam Mast Qalandar Mast Mast' became household anthems.
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 India 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.
