Opinion | Indians, divided from Pakistan by politics, find solace in forbidden culture
- The case of two Muslim teenagers in India who were charged with criminal intimidation for listening to Pakistani music shows how deep the divide has become
- It’s a far cry from the 1990s, when Pakistani singing phenomenon Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sought to bring both nations’ peoples together
The concert hall was full, the air filled with anticipation and a blissful blend of perfumes. The good and the great, the cultured and influential of Delhi were waiting to hear one of the greatest artists of musical history, Pakistan’s Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
It was July 1996 and a sudden shower had washed away the dust from the streets outside, leaving the drenched earth emitting a pungent aroma as raw as the emotion of the audience.
This was the second time in 15 years that the seminal singer, renowned for Qawwali, a form of Sufi Islamic mystical singing, would perform in India.
In a press conference, he had expressed how happy and peaceful he felt when visiting the country. Khan, from a Punjabi Muslim family, was also touring other nations, telling his global fans that music had no borders.
During Khan’s 1996 trip, he even braved Hindu ultranationalist groups in Mumbai, on the western coast, to record a joint album with one of India’s most well-known lyricists, Javed Akhtar.
