Stock: 
Format: 
Release Date: 25-04-2000
Label: Hearts of Space
Catalog Number: HS11310-2
Barcode: 25041131025
Musical Style: World
Track Listing:
| Disc 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dance of My Soul | 5 | Valley of Memories |
| 2 | My Restless Heart | 6 | Stolen Dreams |
| 3 | Dust to Dust | 7 | Sleeping World |
| 4 | Ashina | 8 | Stay My Love |
Description:
As heir to a singing dynasty stretching back to the 16th century, Shafqat Ali Khan is one of the master classical vocalists of India and Pakistan. On this vibrant debut album he propels his tradition into the 21st century, with the soulful, serpentine melodies of his Punjabi homeland soaring over a vibrant, percussive electro-acoustic mix.
Biography:
Shafqat Ali Khan began his professional career at the prodigious age of seven, performing two very difficult ragas at the Punjab Music Festival in 1980; his professional training had already begun when he was four years old. People were amazed. Shafqat recalls. I sang for twenty minutes. Afterwards, he was approached by Radio Pakistan, which led to a series of on-air recitals which spread the fame of this preternaturally endowed talent. By the age of eight, Shafqat had already proved his mettle, earning widespread regard as a classical artist of merit. Further classical performances on area television stations enhanced his public profile. Presently, the singer lives in Lahore, Pakistan, from which he ventures into the world on a constant schedule of international touring.
The Oakland-based producer Doug McKeehan and Shafqat have known one another almost seven years, meeting in 1994, during a visit to the U.S. by Shafqat's father, the renowned Indian vocalist Salamat Ali Khan. McKeehan, a keyboardist who has performed with the world fusion group Ancient Future, has long harbored a love of Indian music and culture; he studied the classical sounds of the subcontinent with no less a figure than the sarangi virtuoso Ram Narayan. The urge to collaborate was immediately apparent to both Doug and Shafqat upon their initial encounter. After preliminary forays into recording, the line-up of players and the style of arrangements best suited to Shafqat's voice both fell into place, leading ultimately to the recordings which yielded the World Class release, Shafqat Ali Khan.
