Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Mustt Mustt

The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is today acknowledged as the great master of Qawwali —the devotional music of the Sufis— who popularised this beautiful and inspirational music beyond Muslim peoples to a worldwide audience and into a whole new musical territory. This album shows Nusrat’s willingness to experiment with his music —to strive for new ideas and to listen to new styles —and to create more contemporary albums that could sit alongside the traditional collection.

In their Qawwali performances, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party already modify their style to suit the audience. The Asian younger generation never used to bother with Qawwali —it bored them and was too slow. They wanted faster beats. “I made my own style,” says Nusrat, “We update Qawwali with the times.”

The opening song, ‘Mustt Mustt’, draws upon various devotional lyrics about a particular Sufi saint, upon which Nusrat has then improvised. ‘Tery Bina’ is a romantic song based upon the Qawwali style, in which a lover claims: “I cannot live peacefully without you for even a moment. I miss you terribly when you are away.”

These are the only two songs with actual lyrics; the rest are classical vocal exercises in which the words have no meaning but are used for the quality of their sound. These notations are selected to fit particular ragas. The generic term for them is Tarana, of which there are many different kinds.

“Music is an international language,” says Nusrat, pointing out that words are unnecessary to appreciate his music.

Producer Michael Brook emphasises that they had no real communication difficulties. “You have language problems, but in fact you need a very simple vocabulary to talk about music if you’re playing it.” He was surprised by “the mutual enthusiasm of Nusrat and all the musicians.  Everyone was excited— there really was a collaboration and that’s all we could have hoped for…”

Instruments from different continents were used, like the big Brazilian drum —the surdu, and the Senegalese djembe, alongside Indian tabla and harmonium, plus bass, keyboards and Michael’s invention, the ‘infinite guitar’. The project also mixed musicians from different cultures. Michael is Canadian, Nusrat, Farrukh and Dildar from Pakistan, Robert Ahwai is culturally West Indian, Darryl Johnson is from New Orleans, James Pinker from New Zealand.  As Michael points out, “Although it wasn’t painless —it worked.”

    “I’d ideally hoped we could show a more delicate side of Nusrat’s singing. I love all the fireworks and the heavy metal solos that he does, but I thought it would be nice to bring out a slower, more introspective component.”
    Michael Brook, Producer