Late qawwali virtuoso Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's father wanted him to become a doctor but fate had destined otherwise for the singer who went on to receive phenomenal acclaim across the world.
An English translation of "Nusrat: The Voice of Faith" by French author Pierre-Alain Baud traces the life of a man who single handedly made qawwali, the devotional music of the sufis, a global passion.
Nusrat, in the author's words, the result of "generous exchanges interrupted by unexpected vocal demonstrations, stunning silences, fiery looks and the magic of his personality, so close yet constantly eluding us."
Baud had access to the singer for over a decade. He was overcome with emotion when he heard Nusrat during his first concert in France in 1985. The author often travelled with the artist and helped organise numerous shows for him all over the world till his untimely death in 1997.
Translated from French by Renuka George and published by HarperCollins India, the tome introduces readers to the qawwali of yesterday and today, traces Nusrat's lineage, his first steps into music and his rise to fame besides associations with international musicians and singers.
Born on October 13, 1948, to Pervez Fateh Ali Khan, very early on, certain signs seemed to predict a unique destiny for this child with his small hands and remarkable corpulence.
While his family had a 600-year legacy of Qawalli Nusrat's father was reluctant to allow him to follow in his footsteps.
However, after Nusrat demonstrated his tabla skills, Fateh Ali Khan realised his son's extraordinary skill and abandoned initial plans to make him a healer of bodies, deciding "he would rather apply the balm of music to the wounded hearts of his listeners who suffered the pangs of separation from their loved ones."
Nusrat discovered the United States and in 1989 toured the country in collaboration with the Theatre de la Ville in Paris.
His first concert in New York literally disconcerted the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
"The way he looked, like a mad Buddha, his passionate virtuosity, the complexity of his vocal lines and the crazy energy of his group stunned the audience," says the author.
