Remembering the King of Qawwali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Google has paid a special tribute to legendary singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on his 67th birth anniversary. Keeping up with the tradition, the late singer has his own personal Google Doodle for the special day.  The doodle showed the musician singing, his left hand raised to make the letter “l” in the word Google.

The musician was primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis.

Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, one of the greatest singers of his generation in the genre of qawwali. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born on October 13, 1948 in Lyallpur, Punjab, which now falls in Pakistan. Nusrat’s father, who was also a qawwali singer, passed away when Nusrat was just 16. Only 10 days after his father’s death, Nusrat saw his father in his dreams, touching his throat and asking him to sing.  Nusrat delivered his first public performance 40 days later.

In his short 48-year long life, Nusrat was regarded as the world’s greatest qawwali singer. In 1987, Khan received the President of Pakistan’s Award for Pride of Performance for his extensive contribution to Pakistani music.  The singer died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 49 on August 16, 1997.