Brooklyn Academy of Music NUSRAT FATEH ALI AND PARTY STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC Harvey Lichtenstein, President and''Executive Producer

BAM Carey Playhouse October 27 & 28, 1989

presents

NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN AND PARTY

AMERICAN PREMIERE

These performances are presented with the generous assistance of the Pakistani Ministry of Culture and Theatre de la Ville - Paris.

Jos'eph V. Melillo, Director, NEXT WAVE Festival NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN AND PARTY

NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN, photo Copyright@ Alain Sauvan.

leader NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN soloist/harmonium FARRUKH FATEH ALI KHAN soloist MUJAHID ALI chorus MOHAMMAD IBBAL NAQBI DILDARKHAN chorus ASAD ALI chorus GHULAM FAREED chorus RAHAT ALI chorus KHALID MEHMOOD chorus ILYAS HUSSAIN chorus NAFEES AHMED solois t/harmonium RAHMAT ALI chorus KAUKAB ALI

There will be no intermission. NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN

Born in 1948 shortly,after the creation ofthe new state ofPakistan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan comes from an illus­ trious family ofmusicians following the classical and mystic Islamic tradition. His father, Fateh Ali Khan (died 1964), was famous both as a classical musician and as a master ofthe . His detailed and expert knowl­ edge of South Asian classical music forms provided the inspiration to develop qawwali into a fine art. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan as a child and young boy was given formal training mainly in classical music and mystic Sufi poetryin Persian, Panjabi and . Hewas sixteen when his father died and his father's brother, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, began to teach him qawwali thereafter. This partnership ended with the death of the latter in 1971. Thereafter, Nusrat took over the leadership of theqawwali ensemble. This was a turning point in his career for his fame began to spread throughout the country. At the annual Sufi festival of the patron saint of the city ofLahore, (al-Hujwiri), Nusrat was swept forward on a wave ofdevotional fervor and acclaim on the first night's qawwali performance in 1972. National acknowledgement of his art came in 1987, when he was awarded the President's Pride-of-Performance for his contribution to Pakistani music. Brought up in the classical tradition tempered by qawwali teaching, Nusrat soon became unique among qawwal, as the performers of qawwali are called. This unmatched combination gives Nusrat the uncanny capacity to move audiences regardless of their origin. The dialogue between the audience and the musicians is central to the performance of a qawwali, and the performers often repeat and dwell on portions which strike a resonant chord in the audience. The impact of vigorous hand-clapping both repetitive and forceful tends to produce in the audience a trance-like state. This is sometimes painful to sensitive audiences, but Nusrat's art weaves in complex anddelicate classical schemes. South Asian classical music draws its inspiration from folk traditions. Nusrat's performances form a bridge between the two, for he is equally at home'in both. Bringing the sophistication ofclassical music to the common people has been one of the most significant contributions of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who is heard with enthusiasm by the peasantry of the villages and with appreciation by those with a deeper knowledge of classical modes. While the use ofmusic to achieve a trance-like state in order to achieve gnosis has been documented by Islamic· musicologists as early as the ninth century, qawwali in its present form probably started at the end of the thir­ teenth century in South Asia. The great Sufi poet and musical composer Amir Khusraw (1253-1325) developed this form'to convey a mystic religious message. . Drawing and holding the attention of a heterogeneous audience is the skill that the performers of qawwali attain. They thus alter the state of consciousness of the audience in order to make them more receptive to the content which is of a syncretistic and mystical nature. The form has been perfected over the centuries and is claimed to lift the audience to exaltation even ifthey do not understand the words. However, form and content are interlinked in a qawwali performance and a complete appreciation is possible only with both. Several Sufi concepts are usedby Nusrat in his qawwali, the main ones being Divine love (ishq)) separation (firaq) and union (visal). For example, when expressing the pain of separ~tion from a distant beloved in content, he changes the music to long stretched pieces to emphasize the distance, while words expressing union are compressed in a rapid rendering. Persqns experiencing the trance brought on by qawwali often speak of an experience of flying. Flight is also the imagery used by Sufis in their endeavor to achieve divine union and go beyond all boundaries that hinder humans from achieving the ultimate esoteric knowledge in the experiential domain. One of Nusrat's favorite verses attributed to Khusraw proclaims: "It is the courage of each, it is the power of flight of each/ Some fly up and remain in the garden, some go beyond the stars." I

-Dr. Adame Nayyar

STAFF FOR NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN Lighting Coordinator : .SallyAnne Santos Management .... '.' Thomas Erdos, Soudabeh Kia 11, AVENUE DELCASSE 75008 PARIS FRANCE