IslamOnline.net’s correspondent, Fahad Faruqui, has conducted an interview with Khan to know more about his inspiration and the journey of compiling a CD.
The interview has been republished below with the author’s permission:
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In the Realm of Devotional Music
An Interview With Nader Khan
Interviewed By Fahad Faruqui
First published @ IslamOnline.net on Thu. Sep. 10, 2009
Nader Khan is a passionate singer and songwriter. By day, he is a dedicated social activist, who works as a Programs Director of ReliefWorks. His debut album “Take My Hand” is an interesting concoction in the realm of devotional music.
IslamOnline.net’s correspondent has conducted an interview with Khan to know more about his inspiration and the journey of compiling a CD.
IOL: Your music is an interesting brew of both eastern and western motifs that are both dynamic and fascinating to hear, what kind of music have you brought-up with?
Khan: My early childhood was in Hyderabad, India. I grew up listening to popular radio shows, picking up new songs, and playing “antakshiri” [a music game] on rainy days or picnics with my mother, and a boisterously large extended family. I had limited exposure to western genres of music, and some fusion work from Indian artists, and also traditional Muslim devotional music.
My mother is not just a gifted singer, but also someone who had a very developed taste of music and lyrics, which I think my elder brother inherited. My musical development came, more than anything else, from trying to understand their taste and fit in to their conversations on songs, and trying to impress them.
IOL: Were you influenced by the pop culture?
Khan: During childhood, I was always drawn to good music. They were not exclusively the kind of songs that I sing now with respect to content, i.e. Islamic devotional type, but there was a wide range of styles and genres that I was exposed to grow up.
Bollywood was an obvious influence, as were Western and South Asian pop, South Asian classical ghazals, sitar, tabla/, shehnai pieces, etc. Eventually after we moved to Saudi Arabia and later to Canada, my exposure to western genres and artists grew wider, and included pop, hard rock, and a limited exposure to heavy metal, R&B, Soul, and even western classical. There was also ample exposure to contemporary Urdu poetry, thanks to my father.
IOL: What brought you towards devotional music?
Khan: My interest in spiritual matters had always existed. After coming to Canada, as I started growing in seriousness about my understanding and personal practice of Islam, I started drifting away from my existing musical influences. This was primarily done to avoid my involvement with music, which is generally frowned upon in Islamic law, but it became easier because of an increasing dissonance with the lyrical content.
Shaykh Faraz (Rabbani) gifted me a copy of The Essential Rumi, and turned my world upside down. I had begun thinking about recording nasheeds in Arabic and Urdu, but this book opened up whole new possibilities of expressing these sublime messages in English. Eventually I started getting inspired to write my own lyrics in English.
IOL: What inspired you to then start singing and what juncture of life was this?
Khan: I had started singing as a child. My first on-stage performance was in Grade 1, and I kept up with public performances throughout my childhood and teenage years. But as I started getting into learning and practicing Islam more actively, I started drawing away from performing for an audience, for mainly three reasons.
Firstly there was the ideal of humility, and I was struggling with how one stays true to that ideal while being a performer at the same time. Secondly there was the ideal of sincerity in intention, and I tried to answer for myself whether I was doing this for purely Divine pleasure, or for money, recognition and fame.
Thirdly, I used to get very upset when people treated Islamic devotional music as merely a source of entertainment, rather than a means of remembrance of God, or when they did not contemplate on the lyrics that had been composed by some of the greatest spiritual personalities of our religious tradition.
I later realized that the path of wisdom entails firstly accepting people as they are, secondly seeing how one can benefit from them, and thirdly how (or if) one can benefit them. The vast majority of people will, by their nature, react to the inherent entertainment value of a composition. If it remains entertaining, they may eventually meditate on the lyrical content. If it is not entertaining to begin with, if good lyrics are sung badly, very few people will lend it their ears.
IOL: Recording the first album is no easy task, what was your journey like?
Khan: I first thought of recording a CD of devotional music when Yusuf Islam released his Album “Life of the Prophet”. As time passed, and more English nasheed albums were being released around the world, I was becoming increasingly disappointed at the lack of lyrical depth. At that time, besides Dawud Wharnsby Ali and Yusuf Islam, I was not aware of anyone else putting out English nasheeds for an adult listener base that moved me.
When I shared these thoughts with friends, I was challenged by one particular sister to do something about it, and I resolved to.
The album was completed after two prior unsuccessful attempts at recording it, which did not pan out for various reasons. This was also a time of great turmoil in my personal and professional life. Eventually, the third attempt was successful, and strangely enough, recording and releasing it pulled me out of my tumultuous circumstances and gave me some much needed clarity and direction. I learn a lot about myself, and others. This was a period of immense internal growth. Some of it also spilled out onto my waistline, but I am working on pulling that back.
Many times in the thick of the final attempt, I would question my path, whether I was making the right professional choice by pursuing this art form as a full time career. Every single time I get in this state, I would be sent encouragement and motivation from means that I never knew existed. I never believed in coincidences, but this really drove home the point for me.
Finally completing and releasing the CD was an incredible feeling.
IOL: Any hurdles?
Khan: Yeah, quite a few. Everything from lack of financial resources, to scheduling issues, to lack of inspiration, to professional commitments, to many more. Writers block was a rather nasty one – it took me five years to write The Sound Of Tears, and arrange it just the way I wanted it.
Every single hurdle taught me something and helped me grow, and I’m grateful for each and every one of them.
IOL: What are the main instruments? Kind of beats brought together?
Khan: I use a wide range of daff-like membranophonic percussion, and some idiophonic percussion instruments from various cultures and traditions. The main instrument in my work is the human voice. My songs do not contain any wind instruments or string instruments.
My main producer, Mr. Mohammed Dbooni, is a genius. He has done an outstanding job of understanding my vision for my work, and helping me achieve something beyond what I had envisioned. His intimate understanding of percussion instruments from across the world is astounding. His instinct on what to use and when to use it, is brilliant. My other producer Mr. Saleem Hasanali was unable to remain involved in the project beyond one completed song, but what we managed to do with that one song was, I think, brilliant.
We composed many of the harmonizing sequences through on-the-spot improvisation during our recording sessions. But much of the work was more or less figured out before we began recording.
IOL: What is the message you are trying to deliver to your audience?
Khan: Mainly, I believe that my message is one of hope. My work is usually somber, inspiring introspection, and contemplation. Even in the celebratory type songs that I have done, I have made an effort to maintain a high caliber of lyrical content.
I think that in a world where there is an increasingly imbalanced emphasis on the outward, I am attempting to point inward; where there is an increasingly imbalanced emphasis on fear, I am trying to point towards hope.
IOL: Faslon ko Takalluf is a very old naat (poems praising Prophet Muhammad) has been heard and sung in the subcontinent for decades, why did you choose to re-do it this way?
Khan: Faslon Ko Takalluf was composed by the prolific and gift naat composer Dr. Syed Iqbal Azeem, and was first rendered by Qari Waheed Zaffar Qasmi to popular acceptance in 1973, before I was born. People have never grown tired of it over the past almost 40 years, and Qari Waheed is regularly requested to perform it at every appearance.
The lyrics of this naat really move me. So, being the global citizen that I am, I only did what came naturally to me, I experimented it with the other musical traditions that I had been exposed to.
Finding new, interesting ways to re-issue earlier work, through an exploration of a wide range of musical traditions, is something that I find great joy in. So, I mapped the lyrics on to a popular Arabic musical mode, Mr. Hasanali added an intense layer of Chinese drums, Mr. Dbooni later added a layer of India Dhol, and we created a Turkish Dhikr atmosphere around it. The result is something that has a very different flavor from the original rendering, and people have responded very positively to it.
IOL: What is the next step for you?
Khan: I am currently working on three albums, finalizing what will need to be recorded, etc. I will start recording this soon, insha’Allah. I have been performing a lot for audiences in Toronto and in the US, and I have more shows coming up as well. I will also be doing some shows out in Australia in the near future, and I am really excited about that. The CD release in the UK is also around the corner, which I am looking forward to as well.
Also, all of my work is released through a non-profit startup called ReliefWorks, which I recently started off with my dear friend Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. We are currently running two relief campaigns, the first of which focuses on the local issue of hunger, and the second on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. We hope to successfully see those efforts through to completion in the coming months.
(c) Copyright Fahad Faruqui 2009, All Rights Reserved.
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