Google honours Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on 67th Birth Anniversary With Doodle

There will never be another Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Don’t believe us? Google it.
The internet giant — which has made a praiseworthy tradition of highlighting the oft-forgotten great minds of the world — marked the musical maestro’s 67th birthday with a doodle.

Read: Remembering Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: The man who gave life to qawwali

And while Google honours Khan today, it’s safe to say that the honour is truly all ours to have been blessed with his heavenly voice. The ‘Shahanshah-e-Qawwali’ (King of Kings of Qawwali) was born on October 13, 1948 in Faisalabad, belonging to a family of qawwals whose lineage went back six centuries.

Here is Khan narrating the dream that changed his life: ”My father [the Qawwali singer Ustad Fateh Ali Khan] died in 1964, and ten days later, I dreamed that he came to me and asked me to sing. I said I could not, but he told me to try. He touched my throat, I started to sing, and then I woke up singing. I had dreamed that my first live performance would be at my father’s chilla [funeral ceremony], where we would all sit together again and read prayers from the Holy Quran and so on. On the fortieth day after his death, we held the ceremony, and I performed for the very first time.” And the rest, as they say, is history.

Read: A young Rahat Fateh Ali Khan tries to keep up with his legendary uncle

So without further ado, let us pay tribute to the man whose voice transcended all man-made barriers.
“I am a peddler, wandering and roaming from one village to another, in the lanes of cities, in the countries of the world, offering the message of peace, wishing to continue to do so all my life. And after a lifelong wandering when I reach my destination, may the slavery of Allah (SWT), His Prophet (PBUH) and Ali (RA) be the tiara of my head, shining like a star.” – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

"He used to go and sit by the ocean, and watch it for hours and hours. And one day it occurred to me, that I, as a viewer, am in fact seeing two oceans, for this man himself is an ocean.” – Javed Akhtar


https://soundcloud.com/realworldrecords/nusrat-fateh-ali-khan-micheal











“Nusrat somehow reaches listeners on an emotional and spiritual level that seems to be universal.In his voice I find a kind of direct communication that seldom fails to move me deeply.” – Michael Brook 

https://soundcloud.com/d-waraich/nusrat-fateh-ali-khan-feat-2

"These men do not play music, they are music itself.” – Jeff Buckley 

https://soundcloud.com/realworldrecords/nusrat-fateh-ali-khan-yeh-jo 

I cherish the tradition of classical music more than my life. I consider its protection and preservation as my spiritual duty… I use western musical instruments because I believe that you can dress up a pretty child in any clothes and it will be still pretty. But the more important thing is that the child should not get injured while putting on those clothes.” – Nusrat in an interview with Enzo Gentile, an Australian correspondent