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 (2 Customer Reviews)
Over the years, the singing of the world famous qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has become a canvas on which a wide variety of admiring musicians and producers have painted their own musical images -- guitarist Michael Brook recorded an album with him, and Khan's work has been remixed by everyone from Black Star Liner to Asian Dub Foundation. The latest celebrant in the Church of Nusrat is the brilliant electro-dub artist Gaudi, whose aptly titled Dub Qawwali takes rare and previously undiscovered vocal recordings of Khan from the '60s and '70s and embeds them in completely new instrumental settings, all of them based on varying styles of reggae, and all of them mixed in a rich, warm dubwise style. The album's high point is its lead track, the softly beautiful "Bethe Bethe Kese Kese." Here Khan is in relatively restrained mode, tenderly crooning a simple melody and avoiding the virtuosic flights of melisma that characterize his more up-tempo work. Gaudi's accompaniment is similarly gentle and caressing. On "Tera Jana Kere Rang Lawe" the melody is drier and the bassline busier; "Dil Da Rog Mka Ja Mahi" benefits from a wet, spacy sound similar to what you might have heard if Lee "Scratch" Perry had moved his Black Ark studio to Mumbai; "Kahin Mot Se Bhi Na Jao" is built on a rockers beat and a sturdily chugging organ part. But on every track, the star of the show is Khan's gorgeous, powerful, and plaintive voice -- this album is ultimately a labor of love and a tribute to the memory of one of the finest singers who ever lived. ~ Rick Anderson
Recording information: Channel One Studio, Jamaica; Metatron Studio, London, England.
Author: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Gaudi: Gaudi (various instruments); Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Personnel: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (vocals, harmonium); Martin Radford (cello); Style Scott (drums).
The Beat (Magazine) (p.16) - "[T]his is top-notch reggae...ornamented with a mix of electronics and ethnic Indian instruments -- and with Nusrat's remarkable voice at the center of it all." Dub Qawwali Music Review Average Rating: (4.5 out of 5 stars)   beautiful, haunting and uplifting
To hear Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sing from beyond the grave is very special. I don't have much of this type of sound in my collection, but I am glad I have this. If all soldiers in all wars had this pumped into their helmets, the fighting would stop fairly quickly.
Submitted by criss_andrew (Adelaide, AUS) 
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 very very good!
This is one of the top world music albums that I have heard in a long time ... there are so many `world fusion' projects out there and so many of them fall short of the mark... Dub Qawwali has most definitely exceeded expectation for me... not only is it musically beautiful but also original in it's combining of old and new, east and west, sacred and secular... not a project to be undertaken by the faint hearted but an album that can be enjoyed by anyone.
To make this album Gaudi was given access to rare and unreleased vocal recordings of `The Emperor of Qawwali' Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from the 60's and 70's by Khan's former record label Rehmat Gramophone. With them he has created, in my opinion, something really very special. What struck me first about this production is the seamless integration of old vocals and brand new musical composition... it sounds as if the tracks were voiced yesterday by Nusrat specifically for the project, not 35 years ago on the other side of the world for another purpose. This for me is a testament not only to Gaudi's skill as a producer but also to his musical sensitivity and respect for the work of this great Qawwal.
Sceptics of this project needn't be... what may be required is a little lateral thinking ... the spiritual cultures of Sufism and Rastafarianism may not immediately seem to be natural partners, most obviously in the musical manifestation of their beliefs... however at closer inspection I believe there is a strong commonality..
...The reaching of spiritual highs and ecstatic states through musical expressions of peace, love, tolerance and the celebration of a greater guiding force is most certainly common to both ...even if the tempo and instrumentation is different... To explore this in music is not only courageous but requires a sensitivity and respect for both cultures that I believe is 100% present in Dub Qawwali.
10/10
Submitted by futuremusicinstitute (United Kingdom)
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