November 1998

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Greatest Hits
Shanachie

By Josef Woodard

A better starting point for Qawwali neophytes would be the latest release from the ample archives of recordings by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the second volume of Greatest Hits (Shanachie 66008; 72:48). The notion of "hits" might strike one as odd, except that these recordings were taken from Khan's recordings before he became a superstar in the West, and long before he linked up with pop figures like Peter Gabriel or Eddie Vedder. These "hits" helped ensure his legend at home. We hear him in his finest, most unadulterated context, with his ensemble called Party, soaring with the gods and crying for humanity like a soul singer of the deepest sort.