Doing something with him - anything - would be an honour. He had taken on being the main guy in the band after his uncle’s death and, once he’d heard the story of “Flower,” he reached out. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan passed away in 1997, but in May 2016 I heard talk that his nephew wanted to perform with me, to do a gig somewhere in India. I was just riffing lyrics in Urdu over Malay’s lopped guitar, and we got it down. I knew that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music came from a spiritual place, and it was also almost like jazz: his band would find a hook, and they would sing and play it, but what happened next was pretty much improvisation, ‘Intermission: Flowers’ soon took on a similar vibe. There was a little waterfall nearby that was rippling away, and it really added to the atmosphere. And I think I want to sing this one in Urdu, like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.’ He added a few twists and, immediately, it sounded amazing. He also turned a lot of people on to qawwali music.Īs we were chatting, Malay picked up the Martin backpacker and began playing a little riff, based on an idea I’d shown him earlier that day – a melody I’d been playing with. A lot of people who know his music reckon he was one of the greatest artists of all time. I was really into him, because my dad had played his music a lot at home I loved that the dude sang in Urdu, for one thing. Malay had his portable recording rig with him and the pair of us were talking about the Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Not long afterwards, Malay and me were spending an afternoon sitting around the pool at the Beverly Hills hotel, writing down lyrics and messing about with melodies. When we found a shop that had one, I bought it, and I loved it from the minute I started playing it. “You can take it anywhere, it’s the size of a backpack. “It’s a little travel-sized thing,” he said. That’s when he told me about the Martin Backpacker. “Man, I know if Dad was to hear me sing like this,” I said to Malay one time, “it would mean everything.”īack in the city, we were hanging out one day, shopping for musical instruments, and I told Malay that I wanted to play a lot more guitar. I wanted to show him, as much as everyone else, that I could do it, and once the tracks started coming together with Malay and a number of other producers I’d been working with, I began to feel that I was really able to express myself vocally and I hoped my parents were going to see it from my side. He wanted the best for me, and I wanted to please him in return…. He was a personal trainer and is solidly built, and he used to go on at me all the time about being a good student and getting the right education. My dad’s a hard worker and he has strong values. I was telling Malay about my relationship with him and how important it was for me to do well for him, to earn his approval. One day when I was working with Malay, we got to talking about my dad.
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