Night Song

Night Song was the second time the Pakistani devotional qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had worked with Canadian producer Michael Brook. Although their first album Mustt Mustt was a huge hit, it came with a fair slice of controversy for the hack-and-slash remixes of Khan's deeply religious poetry. Night Song came out six years later, in 1996, with much more careful and collaborative production but less fanfare. It's often overlooked in Khan's discography and that's a real shame, so it's great that it's being reissued as part of Real World's 30th anniversary.

Brook's production is very sympathetic, adding his own elements of chilled-out electronica, prog rock, dub and West African music around Khan and his musicians. The result is less bombastic than its predecessor and more subtle. Stand-out tracks such as ‘Sweet Pain’, ‘Lament’ and ‘My Heart, My Life’ work so well because they ebb and flow in the same manner as qawwalis while tuning into a completely different vibe. To produce Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is to gild refined gold but, of anyone, Brook probably did it best, and this album is proof of that. What better time to listen to it with fresh ears?