Music across cultures
Reviewed by Sujatha Fernandes
Star Rise
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook
Featuring remixes by Joi, Talvin Singh, Asian Dub Foundation, Sate of Bengal, Aki Nawaz, Black Star Liner, Nitin Sawhney, Earthtribe, the Dhol Foundation and Fun-Da-Mental
Realworld through Festival
"It's the soul and spirituality of Nusrat which is inspirational — he's the Godfather of Sufi music, the James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis of Asian music!"
A collection of young artists, previously brought together for the Anokha — Soundz of the Asian Underground compilation have come together again to pay tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The father figure of Sufi Qawwali music, and more popularly known through the soundtracks of Bandit Queen and Dead Man Walking, Nusrat died as this album was being completed.
Nusrat not only brought Indian classical music to a broad audience, but this album shows how he has inspired creative energy of a dynamic wave of young second generation Asian artists in Britain (where the term "Asian" includes people of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Nepali origin).
Star Rise features remixes by tabla/turntable gurus such as Talvin Singh, rap crew Fun-Da-Mental, rapper Aki Nawaz and a range of other Asian artists such as Joi, Asian Dub Foundation, State of Bengal, Black Star Liner, Nitin Sawhney, Earthtribe and the Dhol Foundation.
The music draws on current popular club styles such as techno, jungle, jazz and rap, infusing them with loops and samples from classical Indian instruments and arrangements. The common thread is the powerful voice of Nusrat. Every track is a homage to the diversity and fluidity of this new Asian music scene.
In the Dhol Foundation and Fun-Da-Mental's "Tery Bina" remix, Nusrat's rich vocals are underlined by heavy traditional Punjabi dhol drums creating a rhythmically charged celebration, while in State of Bengal's "Shadow" remix, the sample is of a very mellow, ambient Nusrat, combined with a minimalist but funky bass line. Aki Nawaz's "Longing" remix is stamped by his distinctively jarring bass groove, interspersed with simple, melodic flute and tabla samples, the gradual addition of other instruments and voices building to an exploding climax.
The most striking thing about this album is its sense of being between cultures, combining traditional Indian music and lyrics in Hindi and Punjabi with sounds straight out of the digital age. However, as its participants emphatically say, this music is not fusion. "It's not some peripheral activity that might cross over into the mainstream. We didn't take separate genres and merge them. For us it's the lifestyle, the air we breathe. The album is a direct result of the tunes we were dropping on dub plates at the club", says Talvin Singh.
These artists articulate musically the identity of young Asians in the UK. It is a culture formed through mutual experience of Britain's ugly history of racism and ghettoism. Some, such as Sam from State of Bengal, are explicitly political. He has organised "peace raves" for Bengali youth to bring warring factions together, but also to raise the issue of army repression in his home country of Bangladesh.
It is fitting that Nusrat has become a focus for bringing these artists together as his music has been important in making young Asians aware of their vast and rich musical heritage. The questioning, rebellious nature of Nusrat's music and its spiritually powerful aura have captured the hearts of a new generation of artists dedicated to forging new musical forms to express their reality.