The article which appears below, was originally published on Times of India in February 2009. ©The rights to this material are reserved to the owner. If you have any concerns or comments, please send an email to info@rahmaniac.com.
Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan collaborated with many musicians around the world, but one association was very dear to him – the one with our own composer A.R. Rahman.
The musicians had collaborated on a song ‘Gurus of Peace’ for Rahman’s album ‘Vande Mataram’. The album, released in 1997 in commemoration of the 50 years of Indian Independence, was a cry for peace in the subcontinent. This was among the Pakistan qawwal’s last recordings.
Nusrat considered Rahman to be immensely talented and a good musician. When asked about the then upcoming composer after his last concert in India in Bangalore in July 1997, Nusrat had very encouraging words about Rahman. “Acha bachcha hai” (He is a good boy), he said.
Nusrat was very upset over Indian film composers vandalising his religious qawwalis and remixing them into lewd love songs. He was particularly incensed over the song ‘Allah hu’ being changed into ‘I love you’ for the movie ‘Auzaar’. “Bahut naalayak log hain,” he said of such music composers who had no qualms about twisting spiritual songs to suit their own purposes.
He reserved all his praise for Rahman, saying he had a lot of “Tehzeeb” (courtesy) and respect for fellow musicians and that he looked forward to working together again. That was not to be; Nusrat died shortly afterwards of cardiac arrest in London on August 16, 1997.
