Pakistani music legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whose musical virtuosity captured the imagination of people worldwide, was essentially a messenger of Sufi poets, his biographer Pierre-Alain Baud tells Amrita Madhukalya
Book: Nusrat: The Voice of Faith
Author: Pierre-Alain Baud
Publisher: Harper Collins India
Pages: 184
Rs: 506
Biographer Pierre-Alain Baud's fondest memory of Pakistani music legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is a rather ominous one. Accompanying Nusrat to the interiors of Pakistan for a party hosted by a friend after a concert, they realised they were in the company of men who do not hold qawwali and Sufi music in high regard. As the evening progressed, things got a tad difficult and, when a power outage struck, they fled.
"We run away as fast as possible and arrive at a tea shop near a creek in the middle of nowhere, and the man there is too surprised to see us," says Pierre. The teashop owner asks Nusrat if Pierre is Pakistani. "To this he replies, 'Not yet.' He had a way of arresting your senses in a way no one could."
Pierre-Alain Baud first met Nusrat at a concert in Paris, a day before he was to leave for Mexico to pursue his PhD on dance and power. The affable Pierre confesses over the phone that the word that can closely describe his feeling at that moment is 'ishq'. "It was October 1985 and, buoyed by a Latin American mood, I saw posters of this big, fat man from Pakistan… at that time he was completely unknown to the Western audience. The audience at the concert was mostly Indians, Pakistanis and people from the Southeast Asia. It's difficult to describe the feeling, but I felt love."
