Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan “Allah Hoo Allah Hoo”
from: gurus of peace, 1997
“Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Malik ul mulk lashareeka lahoo
Wahadahoo laa ilaahaa illaahoo
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Yeh zameen jab na thii yeh jahaan jab na thaa
Chaand suraj na thay aasman jab na tha
Raaz-e-haq bhi kisi per ayaan jab na tha
Tab na tha kuch yahaan tha magar tu hee tu
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Sana bashar k liyeah bashar sana k liyeah
Tamaam hamd sazawaar hai khuda k liyeah
Ata k samnay yarab khata ka zikar he kya
Tu ata k liyeah hai bashar khata k liyeah
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Kiyoon piyaa ibn-e-haidar nay jaam-e-fanaa
Khaal khichwai tabraiz ne kiyoon bhala
Daar per charh ke mansoor nay kia kaha
Sab banatay khilonay lay raha tu he tu
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Laa ilaahaa teri shaan ya wahdahoo
Tu khayaal-o-tajassus tu he aarzoo
Aankh ki roshni dil ki awaaz tu
Tha bhi tu, hai bhi tu, hoga bhi tu hee tu
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo
Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo”
We were fortunate to have seen Nusrat in concert three times. I may have been the only one up and dancing the first time at Harvard’s Sanders Theater. When his party came to Symphony Hall in Boston, the audience danced as joyously as the whirling dervishes this music was intended for. Nusrat was a Pakastani singer of Qawwali, Sufi devotional music. This music is handed down within a family, he following his father, Fateh Ali Khan. Nusrat was considered the greatest Qawwali singer of his generation. The music is entrancing, uplifting, and his magnificent voice cuts through the limits of time and culture. But that’s just my opinion...
-Natasha Hanna-
