KARACHI: The great musical legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan will be honoured with a building to his name.
According to Nusrat’s nephew, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan said that the building, which will be constructed in Faisalabad, will take three to four months to be completed.
The building will serve as a music academy and a museum will be erected in honour of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, he added.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born in a Punjabi Muslim family in Faisalabad Punjab in 1948. His family originates from Basti Sheikh in Jalandhar present-day India. His ancestors learned music and singing there and adopted it as a profession.
He was the fifth child and first son of Fateh Ali Khan, a musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and qawwal. The tradition of qawwali in the family had passed down through successive generations for almost 600 years.
In the beginning, his father did not want Khan to follow the family’s vocation. He had his heart set on Nusrat choosing a much more respectable career path and becoming a doctor or engineer because he felt Qawwali artists had low social status. However, Khan showed such an aptitude for and interest in Qawwali, that his father finally relented.
The young man began by learning the tabla before moving on to vocals in 1964. His father died, leaving his musical education under the supervision of his paternal uncles, Mubarak Ali Khan and Salamat Ali Khan.
Nusrat was known as Pervaiz until he visited Ghulam Ghaus Samdani who changed his name to Nusrat Fateh Ali. After impressed Khan’s learning skills Samdani also told him that he would become a great singer in the future.
In 1971, after the death of his uncle Mubarak Ali Khan, Khan became the official leader of the family Qawwali party and the party became known as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party.
