Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the leading exponent of traditional qawwali music until his death in 1997. Developed as devotional music by the ancient Sufi poets, the qawwal often serves as a conduit between the worshipper and the Creator. This music also has a secular side to it, too, when it appears in the form of a love song, or ghazal. This CD features both songs of praise, and songs of love and beauty. For example, "Shamas-Ud-Doha, Badar-Ud-Doja" is based thematically around the worship of Mohammed, Allah's prophet, while "Kehna Ghalat Ghalat To Chhupana Sahi Sahi" is a ghazal sung in Urdu about a hypocritical lover. Nusrat was recognized as "Shahen-Shah-e-Qawwali," which means "The Brightest Star in Qawwali." SHAHEN-SHAH confirms this assertion.

As music was above all a means of reflection and prayer for Ostad, he always played alone or in small gatherings of relatives and friends. However, in 1960 Musa Marufi, a master of classical Persian music, discovered Ostad and in a long article detailed how he had been overwhelmed by Ostad’s music. Marufi’s account aroused the curiosity of musicologists, and from that day forward great artists and musicians such as Maurice Béjart and the late Yehudi Menuhin sought to visit Ostad and hear him play. Some of these musicians would later provide testimonials regarding the profound impact of Ostad’s music on the listener. Combining extraordinary technique and spiritual inspiration, certain pieces of Ostad’s music are so complex that attempts by Ruhollâh Khâleqi, Director of the National Academy of Music, and others to transcribe this music have met with little success. A few recordings of his work remain, which have been gradually digitized and released since 1995.

As music was above all a means of reflection and prayer for Ostad, he always played alone or in small gatherings of relatives and friends. However, in 1960 Musa Marufi, a master of classical Persian music, discovered Ostad and in a long article detailed how he had been overwhelmed by Ostad’s music. Marufi’s account aroused the curiosity of musicologists, and from that day forward great artists and musicians such as Maurice Béjart and the late Yehudi Menuhin sought to visit Ostad and hear him play. Some of these musicians would later provide testimonials regarding the profound impact of Ostad’s music on the listener. Combining extraordinary technique and spiritual inspiration, certain pieces of Ostad’s music are so complex that attempts by Ruhollâh Khâleqi, Director of the National Academy of Music, and others to transcribe this music have met with little success. A few recordings of his work remain, which have been gradually digitized and released since 1995.

Three years after the qawwali star's death in 1997, Real World began releasing material "discovered" in Nusrat's hometown, Lahore, Pakistan. These four pieces were evidently recorded there just months before he died, but they sound closer to the pristine Real World Studios sessions than to the earlier Pakistani material available on reissue releases. Here and there, one detects a little more rasp than usual in that fabulous voice, but the music is fresh and the tempos are, if anything, super energized, almost as if the party sensed it didn't have much time. The lead track, "Khawaja Tum Hi Ho" ("Master It Is Only You"), strikes with ferocity and doesn't let up for over 15 minutes. This and the second selection are as intense as the music on Shahbaaz (Real World 1991), perhaps the qawwal's fieriest studio session. The third selection, with it's Zen-like title "Koi Hai Na Ho Ga" ("There Was No One, There Will Not Be Anyone") unfolds over a clopping rhythm. Nusrat's voice rips and lashes its way through a moody refrain and the soaring counter melodies of vocal soloist Mujahed Mubarak Ali Khan. The closer "Noor-E-Khuda Hai Husn-E-Sarapa Rasool" ("The Light of God Is the Embodiment of the Prophet") is cooler. Like the final track on many Nusrat releases, it unfolds in a cantering triplet rhythm, letting the listener down gently from the spiritual heights of the earlier material. If there are more recordings of this quality in the vault, the world needs to hear them.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian is the undisputed master of Persian traditional (classical) singing. Mohammad Reza Shajarian (Persian: محمد رضا شجريان) (born September 23, 2021 in Mashhad, Iran) is a Persian traditional singer, composer and Master (Ostad) of Persian music. His best works has been in collaboration with Parviz Meshkatian, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh, and Faramarz Payvar. His singing is technically flawless, powerful, and strongly emotional. In Persian classical Dastgah music, singing is the most difficult art to master and Shajarian is the embodiment of the perfect singer and a major source of inspiration. In 1999 UNESCO in France presented him with the prestigious Picasso Award, one of Europe's highest honors.

Choir and Studio for Spiritual music MELÓDI was founded in 1991 at the monastery of Vavedenje, where it sings at religious services, on Sundays and Holydays. The Choir's name originated from its patron St Roman Melod, who was one of the first and the greatest church poets. The word "metod" means a singer and it is of Greek origin. The ensemble consists of 25 singers; some of them have been working with Mrs Ljubojevlc, the conductor, ever since 1988. MELÓDI Choir. In its repertoire has Orthodox spiritual music works, from the earliest writings of Byzantine, Serbian, Bulgarian and Russian monodic, through early polyphony, to the works of contemporary authors...