I heard Nusrat in my teens – a set of classical music tapes that a friend from had.

For long, I heard his qawwalis – without understanding too much of the language – neither my Urdu nor my Punjabi are much to write home about. I can understand the gist, but the subtleties of the language are lost on me. For an entire period of time I listened to the qawalli Haq Ail Maula Ali – on squeaky speakers and heard Haq Hari Maula Hari . Loved his Live in Paris series of Qawwalis . Like most classical Qawwals, Nusrat too had a classical training. Needless to say my favorites amongst all his qawwalis have been the ones based on classical ragas.

Today, I discovered that some kind soul had put up some of Nusrat’s pure classical recordings. Some beautiful music. Here is one that is especially enchanting. Raga Aahir Bhairav.

enjoy 😀