He had his heart set on them choosing much more respectable career paths, such as doctors, because he was concerned about the low social status that most Qawwali artists held at the time. Initially, his father did not want his sons to follow him into the Qawwali business. Nusrat and his only brother Farrukh were born in Faisalabad, Punjab to Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a distinguished musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and skilled Qawwali performer. Ustad Nusrat became the leader of his family Qawwali party in 1971, a position that was then inherited by his nephew, Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the son of Nusrat's younger brother Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, after his untimely death in 1997.ĭubbed by the community, 'Shahenshah-e-Qawwali,' meaning 'The Emperor of Qawwals,' Nusrat's legacy, and that of his ancestors, continues to enchant the world today through his 50-plus albums in circulation, as well as his gifted progeny who seem fated to carry the torch for many years to come. Qawwali is traditionally an artistry passed down through a lineage, as is the case with Nusrat whose family (originally from Afghanistan) has an unbroken tradition of performing Qawwali for the last 600 years.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan holds the title for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist: A total of 125 albums.

Known as the Bob Marley of Pakistan, or the Elvis of the East, Ustad Nusrat is credited with taking the tradition to the international stage and garnering the respect of a new generation of Qawwali lovers that has reached far beyond the Islamic world. Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( Urdu: استاد نصرت فتح على خاں) (Octo– August 16, 1997), was a Pakistani musician, idolized internationally as a prodigy of Qawwali, the devotional Sufi musical art form that dates back some 700 years.

Akhiyan udeek diyan meaning