The Persian song form called “Ghazal” translates as “to hold conversation with the divine.” Young singer Vishal Vaid will attempt to do exactly that as he and multi-cultural producer and musician Karsh Kale team up to pay tribute to yet another innovator in the world music scene, singer and composer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, for the 10th anniversary of his untimely passing.
At the time of his death at the age of 49, Pakistan-born Ali Khan was best known in the West for his soundtracks for films like Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking (on which he collaborated with Eddie Vedder) and Martin Scorsese’s controversial The Last Temptation of Christ. Back home, though, he had been a superstar from a young age and went on to become the main ambassador of Qawwali music, a devotional Muslim-related genre that he helped bring to mainstream audiences. An incredibly prolific artist in his own right, he still holds the record for the largest recorded output for a Qawwali artist with a total of 125 albums throughout his brief career.
The musicians slated for the tribute at Joe’s Pub have the rightful credentials to do so. Karsh Kale, the talented drummer, DJ, tabla player and composer, recently released his first full collaboration with sitarist Anoushka Shankar, Breathing Under Water, a disc that’s a cross between traditional Indian music and electronic pop that includes guest appearances by Sting and Norah Jones (who happens to also be Shankar’s half-sister).
Vishal Vaid has been performing since he was three years old and is the Middle-Eastern voice you hear on all of Kale’s albums. He’s participated in various fusion experiments throughout his career, going from Urdu and Hindi to fusion experiments with Moroccan Gnawa and electronic renderings. Inspired by the revolution brought on by Ali Khan, he plans to bring his Ghazal to Western audiences, winning their hearts and ears little by little.
Also in honor of Ali Khan, the San Francisco-based Six Degrees label recently released a disc titled Dub Qawwali, which contain inventive new reggae-inflected arrangements to various songs in the voice of the singer culled from hours of unused session tapes.
The task was a labor of love to Italian-born DJ Gaudi, who spent two years tinkering with the sounds until he found the right mix. Just as Natalie Cole revived her father over a decade ago when she recorded a duet with him, DJ Gaudi manage to brings the master back from the dead to convey Ali Khan’s message of peace, love and understanding to an entirely new audience.
October 16, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (betw. E. 4th St. & Astor Pl.), 212-967-7555; 9:30; $25
At the time of his death at the age of 49, Pakistan-born Ali Khan was best known in the West for his soundtracks for films like Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking (on which he collaborated with Eddie Vedder) and Martin Scorsese’s controversial The Last Temptation of Christ. Back home, though, he had been a superstar from a young age and went on to become the main ambassador of Qawwali music, a devotional Muslim-related genre that he helped bring to mainstream audiences. An incredibly prolific artist in his own right, he still holds the record for the largest recorded output for a Qawwali artist with a total of 125 albums throughout his brief career.
The musicians slated for the tribute at Joe’s Pub have the rightful credentials to do so. Karsh Kale, the talented drummer, DJ, tabla player and composer, recently released his first full collaboration with sitarist Anoushka Shankar, Breathing Under Water, a disc that’s a cross between traditional Indian music and electronic pop that includes guest appearances by Sting and Norah Jones (who happens to also be Shankar’s half-sister).
Vishal Vaid has been performing since he was three years old and is the Middle-Eastern voice you hear on all of Kale’s albums. He’s participated in various fusion experiments throughout his career, going from Urdu and Hindi to fusion experiments with Moroccan Gnawa and electronic renderings. Inspired by the revolution brought on by Ali Khan, he plans to bring his Ghazal to Western audiences, winning their hearts and ears little by little.
Also in honor of Ali Khan, the San Francisco-based Six Degrees label recently released a disc titled Dub Qawwali, which contain inventive new reggae-inflected arrangements to various songs in the voice of the singer culled from hours of unused session tapes.
The task was a labor of love to Italian-born DJ Gaudi, who spent two years tinkering with the sounds until he found the right mix. Just as Natalie Cole revived her father over a decade ago when she recorded a duet with him, DJ Gaudi manage to brings the master back from the dead to convey Ali Khan’s message of peace, love and understanding to an entirely new audience.
October 16, Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (betw. E. 4th St. & Astor Pl.), 212-967-7555; 9:30; $25
