Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Chain of Light

Album of the Week, October 31, 2026 So we come to the end of this thirty-six-album-long set of reviews of Peter Gabriel, his collaborators, and his label Real World—and in some cases records that include all three of those items. As I wrote on the last few reviews, this is a body of work that continues to grow, certainly with Peter’s forthcoming album o/i, but also as new tapes are found in various archives and released. Such is the case with today’s recording, a lost studio album by the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Released in 2024, but recorded April 29, 1990, around the time of Shahen-Shah and Shahbaaz, this is a straight-ahead qawwali performance with the full Party, including the Ali family (Rehmat Ali, Taskin Ali, Asad Ali, Babar Ali, and Nusrat’s pupil Rahat), tabla player Dildar Khan, harmonium player Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, and other chorus members and musicians Khalid, Mohammad Iqbal, and Mohammad Nafees. The recording took place at the newly constructed Real World Studios…