Devotional Songs

Why not.

Nicht meine Welt der Rasseln und Prasseln.

Jedes einzelne Lied zu lang und das gesamte Album auch zu lang. Ansonsten erträglich

I quite like these song individually but a whole album is a slog.

So far, outside the scope of what we are used to, it makes it challenging to properly evaluate. There is a lot of interesting melody here; in some ways, it sounds exactly as I would expect. It would take quite a few additional listens to really dig in and evaluate. I imagine the more I listen, the more I would appreciate it; it's hard to see how or why someone would go straight to a 1 or consider this "bad" on any level.

I have no background or knowledge of this kind of music. I’m very happy it was included on the list, which I hoped would expand my horizons more than it has. It was interesting, but honestly after about 20 minutes I would have stopped if it weren’t for the project. Made it through the whole thing. Glad to know about it but won’t come back to it.

At the WOMAD Festival in 1985, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his ensemble, Party, gave one of their finest performances outside Pakistan. It marked the beginning of one of the most remarkable international careers not only in world music, but in the world of music as a whole.

Qawwali is the devotional music of the Sufis, the mystical tradition within Islam. Its purpose is to elevate the spirit by bringing both performers and listeners closer to God. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was the undisputed master of this art form and, in my opinion, possessed one of the three greatest male voices I have ever heard (the other two being Tim Buckley and Demetrio Stratos).

"Devotional Songs" was one of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's earliest releases on Peter Gabriel's Realworld label. Originally issued alongside "Love Songs", the two albums neatly separate the central themes of Sufism: faith and love. Both are approached through ecstasy, and this music is genuinely ecstatic. It needs no translation to convey its profound spirituality, but also its joy of life, of music, and of love. It speaks a universal language.

Almost thirty years after Khan's death, this music has lost none of its beauty or its power to captivate.

Trancey drones, shifting rhythms, powerful vocals - meditative and relaxing, but comes to a intense high often enough to keep it interesting.

Alright. Dude has an amazing voice, and musically everything works, but 90 minutes of what is essentially souped up call and response, in a language I have no understanding of, and no connection to, is asking a lot. I don't have anything bad to say about this, but it's simply not for me.

They really need to sort out this fella's Spotify, it's a mess. So hard to find the album and half of the discography is silly posthumous compilation things that always annoy me. Anyhow I found the album, it wasn't awful to listen to, but gave no real impression

Quite trance inducing.

This record starts off dull but side two bangs.

I can't speak much on this as I cannot understand it, however, I found it rather boring for me and rather long and samey.

De las cosas más interesantes que escuché. Me cuesta reseñar este álbum porque al ser de una cultura tan ajena en muchos sentidos es difícil calificar y compararlo con otras piezas. La verdad fue disfrutable y un poco me alegró, sentí mis raíces árabes (es de Pakistán pero bueno) aflorar.

Imma certified international playboy now

A fantastic vocalist who makes some fantastic contributions to Peter Gabriel's wonderful soundtrack to the 1989 film "The Last Temptation of Christ." These songs are all really good but don't have much applicability outside of their religious context for me to give this more than an objective 3. I think some of his earlier records might be better.

Interesting album, reminds me of the one I got from, I think it was Egypt, but I am not sure any more. Anyway this is quite enjoyable however very repetitive and stretches for quite a while. So no more than 3 stars, but I appreciate opportunity to listen outside my comfort zone.

One of the great things I’ve discovered so far doing this project is some of the music from different parts of the world that I never would’ve discovered on my own and this is another great addition to that list.

It did take me a couple of tracks to get into it but once I did I enjoyed it more and more with every song.

Top Track - Biba Sada Dil Morr De

Glad to have listened to this album. Although I wish the book picked one of the hundreds of albums from the artist available on Apple Music.

It wasn't some life changing revelation or gateway to a whole new genre. But I enjoyed my time with it, and feel like I know a bit more about one artist in this genre now.

Situations where I’ve thought South Asian music was good:
A) In India, where it was part of the cultural experience
B) In a curryhouse, and who doesn’t love a curry
C) Listening to The Beatles, and therefore not actually listening to South Asian music at all.

Strip these things away and this kind of music does nothing for me.