Islamabad audience gets first earful of lost album by legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott on Tuesday hosted the highly anticipated launch of Chain of Light, a ‘lost album’ by the legendary Pakistani musician Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. 

The project is a collaboration between Pakistan-based Saiyna Bashir Studios, who have been working on a documentary biopic on the music maestro titled ‘Ustad,’ and English singer and songwriter Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, who produced the lost album in 1990. 

The British Council has supported the project, with launch events taking place in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Paris in the lead up to the official album release on September 20. The ‘Ustad’ documentary is slated for release in late 2025. 

Chain of Light is an album of previously unheard recordings of Nusrat and his Qawwal party made at Real World Studios in 1990, when the singer was at the height of his vocal capabilities. Carefully restored from the original analogue tapes, this ‘lost album’ of traditional Qawwals includes a pristine recording of the much-loved classic ‘Ya Allah Ya Rehman’ as well the only known performance of ‘Ya Gaus Ya Meeran.’
“Chain of Light is not just about rediscovering a lost masterpiece of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, it’s about reigniting the cultural connection that his music has always fostered between Pakistan and the world,” Maarya Rehman, Deputy Director British Council Pakistan, said in a statement ahead of Tuesday’s event.

“Through these launch events we hope to celebrate his enduring legacy and the universal language of music that transcends borders and unites us all.”

Chain of Light launch events which began in Islamabad today, Tuesday, and continue in Lahore and Karachi on August 29 and 31 respectively. The tour will then move to Manchester on September 10 and Birmingham on September 11, before heading to Paris on September 13. The final pre-release event will take place in London on September 19, culminating in the official album launch on September 20. 

The late Nusrat is universally recognized as one of the greatest voices in musical history and played a pivotal role in bringing Qawwali, a Sufi devotional music tradition, to the Western world. In his lifetime, he collaborated with many Western musicians, including Peter Gabriel, Eddie Vedder, lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and one of three guitarists for the rock band Pearl Jam, and Michael Brook, whose collaborations with musicians around the world have made him one of the most sought-after producers in the music industry. Nusrat’s vocals appeared on soundtracks to films directed by legends like Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Tim Robbins.

Even today, on Spotify, Nusrat is one of the top 10 most listened to artists. According to Spotify Analytics, a substantial 37 percent of Nusrat’s listeners are between 18 and 22 years old. The second largest segment is 23 to 27-year-olds with 24 percent, while 28-34 year-olds along with those under 18 years of age make up 14 percent of his audience respectively on the audio streaming service.

USTAD THE FILM

Saiyna Bashir Studios, an Islamabad based production company, has spent the last three years researching, developing, and raising funds for a documentary film on the life, death and music of Nusrat. The team have filmed Nusrat’s long standing collaborators Peter Gabriel and Michael Brook as well as two Nusrat biographers, the ethnomusicologist who inducted Nusrat to the University of Washington in Seattle as a professor, Nusrat’s childhood friend and physician, his secretary, and his devoted tabla accompanist.

Nusrat’s manager and translator Rashid Ahmed Din, who has also translated the new album Chain of Light, was also interviewed recently.

“It was during the production of the teaser that the team became privy to the existence of a new album,” the British Council said in a statement. 

“With Real World Records’ permission, musician Michael Brook played the filmmakers excerpts from Chain of Light— an on-camera ‘first look’ effectively.”