Rahat says 'don’t require permission for singing Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s Qawwalis'

KARACHI: After late Qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s daughter, Nida Nusrat, warned about taking legal action over people singing her father’s songs without acquiring permission, famed musician Rahat Fateh Ali Khan stated that he doesn’t need anybody’s permission to sing Qawwalis of his late uncle.

Responding to a question about whether he would require permission to sing uncle Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s Qawwalis, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan said, “I am the successor and the adopted son of my Ustad and Uncle Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Why would I need any permission?”

Rahat then went on to add, "This has never been the scenario in history and legacy of our family, which has a rich heritage of over 600 years in the field of Qawwali and Sufi music.”

Sharing that Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had remained an eminent part of Rahat’s musical upbringing, he explained that no kind of permissions were required in the past, when his father Ustad Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan and Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan "recited [the] qalams of my Dada [grandfather] Ustad Fateh Ali Khan [alongside] other members of our family.”

"We are a family … everything belongs to us as a family and we have never been divided,” he added.

Earlier  Ustad Nusrat’s daughter Nida Nusrat had stated that she would press charges against anybody who sang her father’s songs without seeking permissions from her.

“I am the sole heir of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the copyrights of my father’s songs are only with me,” she had said during a  news conference at the Lahore Press Club on Friday.

“If anyone wants to sing my father’s songs, they need to seek permission from me,” she added.

However, when asked if she would take legal action against Rahat, Nida stated, “Rahat is my brother and I will not take any action against him.”