Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party Body and Soul
Realworld

Years ago in these pages I compared the overblown Celine Dion to the not so famous sufi qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a strange comparison yes considering the distance between their respective genre's and besides Fateh Ali Khan never have penchant for hitting his chest after every crescendo. As a result I received a very angry letter from one of Dion's fan saying 'she could sing circles around' this Pakistan born legend. If breaking glass were the contest sure. Fateh Ali Khan who died of a heart attack in 1997 was a marvel not for how many octaves in his little bag of tricks (though he did have an amazing range) but for his technique and his spiritual commitment to Sufi devotional music. Jeff Buckley another great singer who died too soon once described Fateh Ali Khan as "part Buddha, part demon, part mad angel" the intensity is undeniable and the transcendent quality in this recording coupled with the resounding percussion work will have you snuggling up to your mantra in short order. The fact that there is absolutely nothing Hollywood or packaged about this guy has also made him a delicacy of music lovers tired of the same old terrain of world dance hybrids. This is definitely traditional ethnic world music. Listening to this Cd recorded just before his death reminds me of the blinders we can have as a culture, mention great voices and visions of Divas soon follow, Fateh Ali khan was the supreme elixir, the Cadillac of world voices a sort of Beatles of the world genre and it was all about his voice and his devotion. In spite of his failing health in his last few years he still toured and when he things got worse he never slowed down he just hired a physician to tag along. Recorded in his hometown of Lahore, Pakistan Body and Soul was discovered as an archive not meant for release and restoring the master tape to capture Fateh Ali Khan emotional intensity without tarnishing his legend was a painstaking project that took weeks, quite simply the tapes were in dreadful shape. Made up of four long Rhythmic songs with a foreboding ritualistic quality Body and Soul may not be commercially viable but if you give it a chance it may just wake you up inside. - -by John Beaudin