Tribute concert for Qawwali great

THE City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will merge East with West later this year when it hosts a tribute concert to the late Qawwali maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

The October concert, entitled Remembering Nusrat, will form a three-venue tour across the country organised by Indian music label Saregama.

As well as Birmingham, two other concerts will take place at the Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham and London’s Royal Festival Hall

The project, described as “exciting” by organisers will fuseNusrat’s most loved compositions with the full force of the CBSO’s 75-piece symphony orchestra performing Qawwali classics such as Dum Must Qalander and Yeh Jo Halka, Halka to stirring love songs like Afreen, Afreen, Piya Re Piya Re and popular Bollywood numbers, including Zindagi Jhoom Kar and Tere Bin.

Vocals will be provided by Nusrat’s nephew and highly recognised Qawwali singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan who took on the family’s Qawwali tradition following the sudden death of his uncle in 1997.

The man behind the concerts is Belgian-born composer and arranger Tim Pottier who last year brought the magic of Mohammed Rafi to life in a series of concerts with popular Indian singer Sonu Nigaam.

Having just returned from Pakistan where he met with Rahat to discuss the project, Tim is confident the concert will be a hit in the UK.

He said:“It’s a mammoth task blending together one of the world’s greatest improvised vocal traditions with 75 classically trained musicians. Thankfully, Rahat is a unique artist who breathes musicality and open-minded professionalism, whilst the CBSO under Mike Seal is the kind of versatile outfit capable of rising to this sort of challenge.

“There’s a wave of Indian musical projects happening within the UK’s classical music scene riding on the back of the success of the last CBSO project, but once again it seems that Saregama and the CBSO are taking the first brave steps beyond the frontier.”