Real World Records by Peter Gabriel will release “Chain of Light,” a previously unreleased album by Pakistani qawwali legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, according to Variety report. The recordings were discovered in the label’s archives in 2021, which date back to April 1990. The album features Khan with his eight-piece ensemble performing four traditional qawwalis (Sufi Islamic devotional songs), including one previously unreleased track, said the report.
Recorded at Real World Studios during the same session as Khan’s crossover hit “Mustt Mustt,” the album is said to capture the singer at his vocal peak. Talking about Khan’s extraordinary talent, Gabriel said, “I’ve had the privilege to work with a ton of different musicians from all over the world in my time, but perhaps the greatest singer of them all was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. 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.”
Producer Michael Brook said, “There is an amazing clarity to these performances. 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.”
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a qawwali singer with a 600-year lineage, brought Sufi devotional music to global audiences. His powerful yet precise vocals earned him fans like Jeff Buckley, who called Khan “my Elvis,” as well as The Rolling Stones and Madonna. Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder collaborated with Khan on the film “Dead Man Walking” (1995), and A.R. Rahman featured him on his “Vande Mataram” (1997) album.
In 1997, Khan died at the age of 48, but his legacy continues to grow, with six million monthly Spotify listeners and over one billion YouTube views. A documentary, titled “Ustad,” from Pakistan’s Saiyna Bashir Studios, is set for release in late 2025.
“Chain of Light” will be released on 20th September, 2024, via Real World Records, supported in part by the British Council.
About Author
Leave a Reply