Article on Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
on http://www.rediff.com
By Amar Haldipur
I had the privilege of associating with the legendary Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in the last few years of his life. And I am grateful to producer-director Rahul Rawail for introducing me to this wonderful composer. Nusratji was also a lovable human being, so different from these normal Pakisani ustads who always have a snooty, condescending attitude towards those outside their circles.
As an arranger, I had done a lot of work at Rahul’s studio, Audio File. He knew me very well and that, I think, is why he recommended my name to Nusratji, who was looking for an arranger in India after he signed Rahul’s film, Aur Pyar Ho Gaya.
That was the time I worked with him and it was, professionally speaking, an unusual experience. Rahul wanted a muhurat song (the title number, which was there only as a half-song in the film) and Nusratji was pretty blank after initially giving the tune’s blueprint. Rahul wanted the song arranged very fast so I had to do the final version, while Nusratji came in only for the final take.
The remaining songs were made in an even more chaotic fashion.You see, Nusratji was a genius. He would sit down and toy with ideas and make a dozen mukhdas from one raag on the spot. In addition, he had huge stock of Punjabi mukhdas which were his tunes set to verse by Pakistani poets.
Now, Rahul wanted his songs in a hurry and Nusratji had restrictions from his government on his stay in India and had to return.
Somehow, Rahul selected 10 to 12 tunes and told me to record the music before he left! I was aghast! I asked Rahul how I could orchestrate the songs when neither the lyrics nor the situations were decided!
Arrangements are always done according to the mood of a song and the words. But Rahul was insistent. Finally, I did everything – the final music, the selection of the final words, the choice of the singers and the actual music and vocal recording.
With Kachche Dhaage, the situation was a lot more systematic. This advantage is reflected in the final result. Also, the director has not been able to do screen justice to Nusratji’s beautiful and darzedaar (classy) compositions.
We finalised the tunes and basic lyrics in London, and Nusratji suggested the singers. He was personally present only for the Khali dil nahin jaan bhi (Ishq di gali wichh) recording – that too for a while only. He was not keeping too well, and the male singer, Has Raj Hans, took his time getting the song right.
Nusratji left half-way. But he showered lavish praise upon me when he heard my final mixes of this song and Dil pardesi ho gaya, specially for the few changes I had made (on my own) to the Raag Shivranjani-based notes of the latter. These were the only two songs from the film which he heard in his lifetime. Contrary to popular belief, Lataji never recorded any song under his supervision. In this film, she sang his compositions for the first and last time.
As a man, he was very sweet. All these ustads lead a similar life. They wake up around two in the afternoon, and sit down in their music room from around six in the evening – from which moment on, time stands still for them. Koi chhand pakadke Nusratji shuru hote the, and it was a rare day when he never added three or four new and absolutely original tunes to his stock. He would usually go on working until four to five in the morning.
Nusratji would want me to sit with him while he was working and have khanna with him after work. In Bombay, it was fixed that his man would go and cook food for him in his very close friend Gurdas Mann’s kitchen.
And he was like a small child. I was invariably persuaded to spend the evening and the better part of the night with him. But he always held me and anyone else who was present spellbound with his rare hits and unpublished tunes. I heard some of the greatest music I have heard in my
life at these sessions.
Like all great composers, he was not too well-trained in the intricacies.
But as I often say, Laxmikant-Pyarelal are no Bhimsen Joshis or
Hariprasad Chaurasias in musical knowledge. But a 100 Joshis and a 100
Chaurasias cannot make one LP. Nusratsaab was the same. The art of
composing is a divine gift.
He was so happy with me that he openly admitted he could not get work
like this done in Pakistan -- something no other ustad would have admitted
to a humble arranger from an enemy country. "Aap hamaare hero no1
hain," he told me once. "Aap ne hamare kaan kharaab kar diye hain! Now
I will have to do all my work here. So whenever I do come here, please
take time off to do my work. Jaise bhi ho sambhaal lijiye. We have to
work a lot together in the future. And, for one film, you will have to come
with me to Pakistan." He had even sent me a visa. But destiny willed
otherwise.
I have now arranged his famous
qawwali, Ishq ka rutba ishq hi jaane
twice over in two different ways for
Firoz Nadiawala's Kartoos and Gurdas
Mann's Shaheed-E-Mohabbat. In both
cases, I have used the computer to cut
and paste his voice. He had also
composed three other songs in Kartoos,
all of which have been arranged by me.
Our last meeting was a few months before his death, when he had come
to India with a troupe to do some private shows. He took my leave with,
"Amarji, khuda aapko accha rakkhe!" How could I have guessed that
it was his final farewell to me?
As told to Dr Rajiv Vijayakar