There is something profoundly captivating about a lost record—a piece of art long-forgotten, shrouded in mystery, emerging from an unknown void after so many years. Its timing feels immaculate, as though it was destined to be revealed to the world at just the right moment. Last year, I first heard whispers of the discovery of forgotten recordings by Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
The story begins when Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, internationally renowned for its contributions to world music, decided to relocate one of its studio storage facilities—a structure standing since the days of the Second World War. During this move, an employee uncovered recordings made in 1990, produced by Michael Brook. These sessions, featuring Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, his brother Farukh, and their Qawwali Party, were likely part of the same multiple recording sessions that gave birth to seminal fusion and traditional Qawwali albums, many of which the world has heard, while others, like these four, remained untouched.
The album, Chain of Light (the title derived from the literal meaning of words from one of the devotional poems featured on this record), consists of four tracks: ‘Ya Allah Ya Rehman’, ‘Aaj Sik Mitran Di’, ‘Ya Ghaus Ya Meeran’, and ‘Khabram Raseed Imshab’. Hearing the samples for the first time during a pre-launch listening session left me in awe. The four tracks encapsulate the deep-rooted tradition of this devotional genre, and Khan Sahib, as always, gracefully makes each Kalam uniquely his own.
‘Ya Allah Ya Rehman’, the opening track, is a powerful stand-alone Hamd (a poem in praise of God Almighty), performed in the authentic Khanqahi style. What makes this recording remarkable, aside from its power, is how it has been captured on tape—unembellished, pure, and straight from the heart. It’s a raw, elemental performance, recorded without any artifice. The only mystery is the source of the words, which remain unknown to me.
The second track, ‘Aaj Sik Mitran Di’, is a rendition of the famous Kalam by Hazrat Pir Meher Ali Shah of Golrha Sharif. This devotional poem is a beloved part of modern Sufi culture, performed countless times at gatherings, either in Qawwali form or as vocal recitations. It is a heartfelt praise of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and tradition holds that the poet wrote the iconic lines “Kithay Meher Ali, Kithay Teri Sana, Gustakh Akhian Kithay Ja Larhiyan” after a dream he had. The performance is mesmerizing, built on a foundation of deep, rhythmic percussion and the emotional repetition (Takraar) of verses that demand reflection.
The third Qawwali on the album, ‘Ya Ghaus Ya Meeran’, is an unheard rendition of a poem by Hazrat Naseeruddin Shah Naseer, an ode to Hazrat Moin-ud-Din Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA), one of the greatest of all Sufi saints. From the opening moments, the listener is drawn into a rhythmic frenzy, a result of the odd 16-beat time signature. I’m reminded of how Khan Sahib and his Party, whom I had the privilege of seeing live three decades ago, effortlessly navigated complex time signatures with grace. It’s one of the many reasons they stand as one of the greatest Qawwali ensembles of our time.
The album’s title, Chain of Light, comes from a lyric in this track, and when the words “Aik Silsila-e-Nur Hai Har Saans Ka Rishta“ are first sung, they weave an undeniable spell of aural magic.
In traditional Khanqahi gatherings, Qawwali follows a specific order—starting with praise of the Almighty, followed by Naat in praise of the Prophet (PBUH), then Qaul for Hazrat Ali, and finally, a tribute to saints in the spiritual lineage. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the album adheres to this order. The final track is a rendition of the Persian poem ‘Khabaram Reseed Imshab’ by Hazrat Amir Khusrau (RA), one of the greatest Sufi poets. This deeply moving piece serves as the perfect conclusion to the lost recordings. Its heartfelt words, sung in Persian, express the annihilation of the self in the presence of the beloved, resonating with the joy of a ‘divine encounter’ and the vision of the beloved on a blessed night. The words evoke a longing to lay one’s head on the path where the beloved walks, a deeply personal and spiritual sentiment.
I once heard that praise of the Divine reaches its audience only when it is ordained by the Divine Will. With Chain of Light, this sentiment feels true. Imagine an unmatched collection of performances by one of the greatest artists of all time, finally finding its audience in perfect condition some thirty-four years after it was recorded. This album, featuring four unforgettable tracks in different languages, spanning roughly forty-three minutes, is a gift. It represents Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the man who brought the tradition of Qawwali to international audiences in the modern world as we know it, and it was made possible by Peter Gabriel, the man who believed in him. To both of them and to everyone involved, I say—thank you.
-Babar Sheikh is an artist, filmmaker, performance artist and educationist.
Chain of Light
album credits:
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
(vocals, harmonium)
Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan
(vocals, harmonium)
Dildar Hussain (tabla)
Mujahid Ali (senior chorus)
Rehmat Ali (chorus)
Rahat Ali (chorus)
Asad Ali (chorus)
Ghulam Farid (chorus)
Khalid Mahmood (chorus)
Produced by Michael Brook
Recorded by David Bottrill
Assisted by Richard Blair
Tape restoration and digitisation
by FX Copyroom
Mixed by Craig Conard with Michael
Brook at Lavanderia Studio,
December 2022
Chain of Light was released on
20 September 2024 by Real World Records
From the vault
“
Ž“Over the course of his musical career, (Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali) Khan became a cultural icon whose list of esteemed fans extended well beyond the Islamic world and into the realm of western rock and pop. The late Jeff Buckley famously said of the singer “He’s my Elvis” and Khan counted amongst his fans The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. His voice also appeared on the soundtrack of movies by Hollywood directors Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, and Tim Robbins.
Khan’s relationship with Peter Gabriel and Real World Records began after his watershed performance at the 1985 WOMAD festival, which was the first time he performed to a predominantly western audience.
Shortly after that historic festival set, he was signed to the label, and his international profile rose through a collaboration on Gabriel’s 1989 album Passion which featured in the movie, The Last Temptation of Christ.
“I’ve had the privilege to work with a tonne of different musicians from all over the world in my time, but perhaps the greatest singer of them all was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,” says Peter Gabriel. “What he could do and make you feel with his voice was quite extraordinary and we were very proud to have played a role in getting him to a much wider global audience. It was a real delight when we found out this tape had been in our library. This album really shows him at his peak. It’s a wonderful record.”
“1990 was a key point in Nusrat’s career, it was the beginning of him crossing over into a western audience,” Khan’s longtime international manager, Rashid Ahmed-Din, says. “Everything just clicked. He always wanted to experiment and not be limited to one sound and these tracks express that movement beyond.”
“There is an amazing clarity to these performances,” producer Michael Brook says of the recordings. “They are more harmonically adventurous than the other songs that Nusrat was recording at the time and the whole group is firing on all cylinders.”
In 1997 Khan tragically died at the age of 48. He had exposed the mystical power of qawwali and its capacity for modern interpretations to the world, but his voice was no more. Almost 30 years later, the singer’s legacy continues to attract new generations of fans, evident in the 6 million average monthly Spotify listeners and YouTube videos of his music racking up over 1 billion views.
Fans of the great maestro will be thrilled to also learn that the definitive documentary film on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s life is in the making. Saiyna Bashir Studios, an Islamabad based company, will release their labor of love biopic Ustad at the end of 2025. The film will tell the untold story of one of the world’s greatest singers, featuring rare and unseen archive footage with contributions from a cast of close family, friends, collaborators and fans. Earlier this year, Saiyna Bashir Studios received a grant from the British Council to support Real World Records to promote Chain of Light.
Reflecting on the significance of this album producer Michael Brook says “It touches you, it is a once in a lifetime experience. Like the immanent light of the record’s title, these songs are transformative and transcendent in a way that crosses languages and cultures. It draws the listener in, no matter their expectations. Thank God, or whatever you believe in: the voice has returned.” – Real World Records