Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook - Star Rise (2015)

In 1997, Real World commissioned the leading lights of the UK's so-called Asian Underground movement to remix and reshape the back catalogue of the great Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Asian Dub Foundation, Nitin Sawhney, State Of Bengal, The Dhol Foundation and Fun^Da^Mental took their pick of Nusrat's classic album
Mustt Mustt, while Talvin Singh, Joi, Aki Nawaz and Earthtribe reconstructed cuts from Night Song, the record made by Nusrat and his Canadian collaborator Michael Brook.

When the project was nearing completion, tragedy struck: Nusrat died suddenly, leaving Star Rise as a memorial to this unique artistic visionary. A decade and a half later, it remains a strikingly modern tribute, from State Of Bengal's beautifully unhurried reimagining of Shadow right through to the fidgety, floor-quaking dub of ADF's remix of Taa Deem.

This timely reissue also adds a freshly minted remix of Fault Lines, an absorbing, 21st-century interpretation from US DJ Fabian Alsultany (co-creator of L.A.'s Tadasana Festival and New York's mammoth Globesonic dance gatherings). Not that the stamp of a date is necessary or pertinent. Nusrat's soaring vocals remain ageless, his appeal eternal.

Review

...mind-blowingly wonderful...this record combines all the exoticism and intellectual pose value of traditional Qawwali music with lots of throbbing basslines and juicy breakbeats. --The Sunday Telegraph

...a sublime album...a glowing tribute to both the singer's enduring artistry and the febrile health of the Anglo-Asian music scene in general. --The Independent