Customer Reviews

Live in New York City

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is Nusrat Live in New York, featuring Rahat, his nephew, who has a very distinct nasal voice. I'm sure seeing Nusrat live must have been thrilling for the audience, but the sound quality on this is really very bad. Bordering on bootleg-quality, Nusrat's voice is almost drowned out just by the treble of the harmonium, and only the high voice of Rahat is very present. There is an incredible amount of subtlety in Nusrat's voice that is lost almost completely throughout both discs. This is all relative though, since the recording as a whole is muddled and the levels are WAY off. There are no liner notes to speak of, no date given to the performance, though since the front says, "in loving memory..." one can assume it was made near his death in 1997. Whatever, this thing only gets two stars because you can still hear the intensity rolling somewhere in there - it would have been great to see him live. Especially when compared with the excellent Paris Concerts box set, one wonders how this label even got rights to put this out. For REAL avoid this.

I really must say that Nusrat Fatha Ali Khan was one of the greatest musicians of the twentith century. His music and style was one that cannot be reproduced. I feel that everyone, whether or not they understand was is being sung, should listen to his work at least once. I myself have an extremely difficult time trying to understand what is being said by him, but the meaning is more or less conveyed through his music and rhythm. I had the privalidge of seeing him perform in St. Louis some years back, and that was one concert I will never forget. This album is one of the best ones I have heard for it includes most of his famous songs and qawalis. I loved it!