Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had been around for quite sometime, nearly 20 years or so. I do not think he was popular at all, apart from having a minute following of Die Hard Qawwali fans.
There are two ways to make yourself popular in Music; change your genre to that which is popular, and the other one, which is nearly impossible is to make people switch genres and make your own music popular. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did the later.
Suddenly, qawwali was on top. Everyone was going Must Must, Nusrat Fateh Ali’s casette was selling like hot cakes in the streets. Unlike the pop musicians, this brand of music was much more acceptable to the older members of Pakistani society and that definitely made it easier for him to promote his music.
There was no looking back after this for him, till the day that he died. He got an article in Newsweek, and his fame in the subcontinent was second to none.
The funniest thing that comes to my mind from this song is the plagarized “Tu Cheez Bari Hai Must Must” in the 1994 Indian movie called “Mohra”. And yes, you guessed it; the music ‘creator’ was Anu Malik. The plagarized song became a big hit in India, but it also became more of a hit in Pakistan than you woud expect considering that people knew that it was Nusrat’s plagarized song.
I have his interview that he gave on some Indian channel and he was very upset that Anu malik copied most of his songs. When asked why he was not upset about barsat kay mausam main (which was a copy of his dad’s qawwali) he said that the director asked him for permission that they want to experiment with the qawwali, so he was fine with that. When asked he gave a list of 10-12 songs from top of his head that were copied by Anu Malik.
it wasnt anu malik, it was viju shah who was did the music for mohra.
to know what anu malik’s true level is, one must listen to one of his own albums. but do so only after you have a good sledge hammer handy to destroy the abomination.
The plagarized song became a big hit in India, but it also became more of a hit in Pakistan than you woud expect considering that people knew that it was Nusrat’s plagarized song.