Daily Times

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one of the most popular and widely heard singers belonging to Pakistan who passed away on August 16, 1997. His popularity mostly arises from his contribution to qawwali, an eastern genre of music in which a group of people sit together and express their feelings on the mystical notion of love. Through his attractive, husky voice, which was one of its kind, and his bewitching compositions which seize the hearts and continue to tighten their grip have rendered Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan an unforgettable figure of the music industry.

People, however, mostly remember and praise him for his popular qawwalis like “Ghorak Dhanda” and “Meri Tauba” but it must be known that Khan turned the works of some of the best Pakistani poets into fine songs, doing full justice to the poets’ words. No piece of poetry he gave the form of a song lost its essence but all the symphonies turned out to be in complete coherence with the feelings of greats like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Parveen Shakir and Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi.

Faiz Ahmad Faiz is someone whom we mostly know for either his revolutionary or his romantic poetry written in highly sophisticated Urdu language. Faiz, however, has written essays in English as well, which form a complete compilation by the name of ‘Culture & Identity’. But even his English works are not as latent as his Punjabi works, one of them being the beautiful poem “Ve Pardesiya”.

This sad poem written in Punjabi by Faiz was included in the album ‘Wohi Khuda Hai’ of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali, released around the year 1995. Nusrat’s voice has the pain of yearning in it, seemingly equal to, and at times even more than that of Faiz, brilliantly accompanied by flute.

Parveen Shakir who happens to be one of the most famous female poetesses of Pakistan did not go unnoticed by Nusrat. In fact, the ghazal of Shakir he chose for composition happens to be incorporated in her most famous book Khushbu. He turned it into the form of one of the beautifully saddest pieces of Pakistani music. However, not all of the verses were composed, but the following few,

“Kuch To Hawa Bhi Sard Thi Kuch Tha Tera Khayal Bhi, Dil Ko Khushi Ke Sath Sath Hota Raha Malal Bhi,

Baat Wo Aadhi Raat Ki Raat Wo Poore Chand Ki, Chand Bhi Ain Chait Ka Uss Pe Tera Jamal Bhi

Sab Se Nazar Bacha Ke Wo Mujh Ko Tha Aise Dekhta, Ek Dafa To Ruk Gai Gardish-e-Mah-o-Saal Bhi

Os Ko Na Pa Sake The Jab Dil Ka Ajib Haal Tha, Ab Jo Palat Ke Dekhiye Baat Thi Kuch Muhaal Bhi”

Another composition of his which cannot be ignored is that of Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi’s ghazal,

“Jab tera hukm mila, tarq mohabat kardi

Dil magar iss pe who dharka, ke qayamat kardi”

No piece of poetry he gave the form of a song lost its essence. Indeed, all the symphonies turned out to be in complete coherence with the feelings of the greats, such as Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Parveen Shakir and Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi

The fact that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan chose the works of some of the best Pakistani poets depicts that the singer had complete knowledge of the literary figures of his country. Not only that, but his rendition of their works suggests that he had a deep understanding of good poetry, for it seems as if the words have seeped into Khan’s soul, have been deeply felt, and then re-produced as fine, memorable compositions which even after so many years have not been labelled as ‘old’ or belonging to a certain period of time.

The writer can be reached at m.ali_aquarius85@yahoo.com

Published in Daily Times, August 20^th 2017.