Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Quotes

“I am not a Sufi, but I follow the Sufi.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“When people start dancing, they dance like they don't know they are doing it.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Yes, I tried to change the classical style in a way that people who don't understand it can enjoy.

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“I also like Western classical music and jazz.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“Yes, you've got to sing from the depths of the heart.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“He didn't want me to become a musician, he wanted me to be a doctor, because he said singing was too hard.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“These three elements are called Qawwali, and they've got to be there.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“I do listen to other music though, and try to pick up what is good.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“I have a daughter, she's twenty years old.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

In his day, the audience was well aware of the music, of the classical beat.

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“On the fortieth day after his death, we held the ceremony, and I performed for the very first time.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“I was just studying with my father, a very difficult task for me since he was a great, great Qawwali singer.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“A man learns all his life, and dies the day he thinks that he has learnt everything.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“To be a qawwal is more than being a performer, more than being an artist,One must be willing to release one's mind and soul from one's body to achieve ecstasy through music. Qawwali is enlightenment itself.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

When I sing for God, I feel myself in accord with God, and the house of God, Mecca, is right in front of me. And I worship. When I sing for Mohammed, peace be upon him, our prophet, I feel like I am sitting right next to his tomb, Medina, and paying him respect and admitting to myself that I accept his message.

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“People say that love is easy, but love spares nothing and no-one.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“He's my elvis. I idolize Nusrat, he's a god, too”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“Nusrat is one of the greatest singers of our time. When his singing takes off, his voice embodies soulfulness and sprituality like no other.”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

“The musical instuments may be western but my voice never wavers away from my own ragas. it is good to make experiments and I do a lot of them but my thoughts always round the centre and that centre is the tradition of my elders and it is classical music..”

— Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan