Fans of the legendary qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan are in for a surprise. A new album of unheard songs is set to release on 20th September around 27 years after his death. As revealed by Rolling Stone the ‘lost album’ named ‘Chain of Light’ has surfaced from the tape archives of Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records. For the unversed, Nusrat was signed by the label in 1989 and a bunch of successful tracks were released during the 90’s.
‘Chain of Light’ includes four traditional qawwali tracks, one of which is never heard before and captures Nusrat’s vocals in pristine sonic quality. Accompanied by his eight-strong party of singers and musicians, the recording was made at Real World Studios in April 1990. At the same time, he collaborated on Mustt Mustt, his seminal crossover album with Canadian producer Michael Brook.
The tapes were restored from a warehouse at Real World Studios during an archive relocation in 2021. It was restored meticulously from the original analogue tapes that include renditions of classics like ‘Ya Allah Ya Rehman’ and ‘Ya Gaus Ya Meeran’.
Producer Michael Brook praised the recordings, stating, “There is an amazing clarity to these performances. They are more harmonically adventurous than the other songs that Nusrat was recording at the time and the whole group is firing on all cylinders.”
Rashid Ahmed-Din, Khan’s longtime international manager, said that 1990 was a crucial year in the singer’s career: “The year 1990 was a key point in Nusrat’s career, it was the beginning of him crossing over into a Western audience. Everything just clicked. He always wanted to experiment and not be limited to one sound and these tracks express that movement beyond.”
Chain of Light will be released by Real World Records on Sept 20 and will be available to pre-order on a variety of formats. The launch of the album is being supported in part by the British Council.
