Shafqat Ali Khan sings for the world
By Yafonne | Special to AsianWeek
If you’ve heard Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the classical South Asian singer whose qawwali vocal style enchanted Peter Gabriel and was featured in the film Dead Man Walking, you may be even more enthralled by Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan, an internationally acclaimed classical singer from Pakistan whose husky and soulful voice resonates with emotional intensity.
Son of the legendary international classical singer Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, who passed away in July 2001, Shafqat Khan is the youngest heir of a prominent musical dynasty that dates back 11 generations to the Mughal times of Emperor Akbar the Great in the 15th century. In fact, he is now the last torchbearer for this kind of North Indian classical vocal music tradition, better known as the Sham Chaurasi school from East Punjab, Pakistan. Ustad is a title that means teacher.
“Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the biggest fan of my father,” confirmed the robust-looking Shafqat Khan at Video Café in San Francisco last week, dressed in a simply designed sweater and slacks. “He considered my father his spiritual teacher. He always followed my father’s style in his singing.”
That’s because Salamat Ali Khan, a legendary superstar vocalist of the sub-continent and the first Pakistani artist who went abroad to sing in the 1960s, has become a household name in the world of Indian music.
“Name any singer from Pakistan or India, and they know who he is. All the classical masters of India know him,” said the visiting Shafqat Khan. “He showed the new ways of doing ragas. Right now people sing in my father’s style. He was the most favorite singer of everyone.”
According to Shafqat Khan, classical Indian vocal music encompasses a wide range of traditional music from South Asia.
“Western classical music is a written form. Our music is more improvisatory. You keep the scale in your mind and your heart. It’s variation music,” explained Shafqat Khan. “All of the world’s music is based on 12 notes. All music in the world uses the same notes, just with different accents and variations.”
Moreover, South Asian classical vocal music encompasses a wide range of improvisatory forms, such as raga (classical music), thumri (semi-classical lyrical music), kafi (mystic Sufi music), and gazhals (romantic ballad music), all of which Shafqat Khan sings with passionate ease. Today, Shafqat Khan superimposes the more popular khayal style (elaborate ornamental improvisations) onto the centuries-old dhurpad style (structured complex rhythmic variations and virtuosic vocal slides).
“It’s a very powerful, very energetic music,” said Shafqat Khan, referring to dhurpad singing. “It’s like the wind, the clouds, thunder. This is the style of my school. Our ragas are more lengthy than any one else’s, with more variation than most.”
Shafqat Khan can’t remember when he started singing, though he supposes it was as soon as he became aware of his world. He gave his first performance at the Lahore Music Festival at the age of 7, astounding listeners by singing two very difficult ragas for 20 minutes straight. Approached by Radio Pakistan for a series of on-air recitals, Shafqat became known as a child prodigy by the age of 9, performing on radio, television and in festivals all over the country.
“I’ve always said I wanted to be a singer, even as a child when I really didn’t know what that means. Every kid in my class used to laugh at me,” recalled Shafqat Khan. “Many said they want to grow up to become doctors and such, but I always said I wanted to become a singer.”
Shafqat Khan’s early fame echoed that of his father, who had his singing debut at age 7 at the prestigious Harballabh Sangeet Music Festival in Jallandhar, Punjab, in 1941. His powerful singing shook up elders and caused Pandit Om Karhate Dhukar, the greatest vocalist of South Asia, to proclaim, “This kid is a miracle of God. He sings too fast, too melodious, too perfect!”
“I was trained like Mike Tyson,” joked Shafqat Khan. “To train one classical singer is like to train a professional wrestler. There’s the morning meditations, the practicing of music. The physical exercise, which is actually wrestling, is very good for breathing. It’s called kushti wrestling, a traditional form of wrestling in the Pakistan and the sub-continent. It is real physical training.”
“Oh, there’s so many things you have to give up,” he pretends to complain, waving his arms in mock protest. “You can’t smoke. You can’t drink. You’re like a Sufi.”
Sufi-like or not, Shafqat Khan has definitely proved himself as an artist, garnering awards such as the Amir Khurso Award in Lahore for best classical singer (1986), the Rajini Ghanda Award from New Delhi University (1995), the Indira Gandhi Award (1996), the Saraswati Award from the Harballabh Sangeet Music Festival (1997), and the Ampitheatre Memento Award in New Delhi (1998).
As far as settling down in one place, that’s not an option for Khan, “I am a type of person who can’t stay in one place for long,” he admitted candidly. “My idea is to take this music all over the world and give it to the people. I never stay in my own country very long. Even my mother says she sees me growing up through the pictures I send her.”
“I feel myself settled everywhere. One should always keep moving. That’s a Sufi saying. Like water, you can’t stay in one place. Water should be always running. It stays clearer that way.”
Following in his father’s footsteps, Shafqat Ali Khan has never looked back, always singing, just as his father did, and his forefathers before.
“I strongly feel he’s inside of me. He is the one. He can never really die,” he says, pointing to his heart and reminiscing, “Sometimes when I sing, I feel I am dead and he’s alive inside of me.”
Vocalist Shafqat Ali Khan has appeared in recordings from Nimbus (UK), EMI (India), HMV (UK), Waterlily Acoustics (USA), Westron (India), Magna Sound (India), Keytune Productions (Holland), Plus Music (India) and Folk Heritage (Pakistan). Locally, Shafqat’s lavish voice can be heard on the ambient New Age album Voices of Spheres (XDot25, see www.xdot25.com), the pure classical tracks in Breath of the Rose (Waterlily Acoustics), and his latest pop fusion release album Shafqat Ali Khan (Hearts of Space, see www.hos.com). For more information on Shafqat Ali Khan and his music, check out Srimati’s Record Store, at 2011 University Avenue in Berkeley, which specializes in Indian classical music.
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