Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's album release: How did qawwalis recorded 34 years ago end up in a London warehouse?
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's album release: How did qawwalis recorded 34 years ago end up in a London warehouse?
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Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's "lost album," titled "Chain of Light," was released in September 2024, 34 years after the qawwalis were recorded. These recordings ended up in a London warehouse (specifically, Real World Studios' archive) due to a combination of factors: * Recorded during a pivotal time: TheRead more
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “lost album,” titled “Chain of Light,” was released in September 2024, 34 years after the qawwalis were recorded. These recordings ended up in a London warehouse (specifically, Real World Studios’ archive) due to a combination of factors:
See less* Recorded during a pivotal time: The album was recorded in April 1990 at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, during the same period Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was working on his seminal crossover album Mustt Mustt with Canadian producer Michael Brook. It seems these traditional qawwali recordings were made alongside his more experimental work for Mustt Mustt.
* Archiving at Real World Records: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had a significant relationship with Real World Records, the label founded by Peter Gabriel. He was signed to the label in 1989 and released several acclaimed albums with them throughout the 1990s. It was standard practice for recordings to be archived at their studios.
* Discovery during relocation: The tapes comprising “Chain of Light” were “buried deep in a warehouse storage space” at Real World Studios and were only unearthed in 2021 when the label was relocating its archive. This suggests they were simply stored and overlooked for decades.
Essentially, these were unreleased recordings from a highly productive and significant period in Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s career, and they remained in the label’s archives until their recent rediscovery during an archive relocation. The album features four traditional qawwali compositions, including one never heard before, and showcases Khan at the height of his vocal capabilities.