MUSIC: PURE ECSTASY

A PAKISTANI SINGER'S SPIRITUAL PASSION WINS U.S. FOLLOWERS

IF A FOREIGN FILM IS CAPTIVATING--say the Chinese drama Raise the Red Lantern--within a few minutes the subtitles melt away. One forgets that the characters are speaking a different language, and the message of the film, its plot, its humor, come through. So too with music. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is a huge star in his native Pakistan; but although he speaks no English, and his songs are often in Urdu, he has built a following of hipster fans in the U.S. Khan is a singer of qawwali--Sufi Muslim religious music, which, like gospel, seeks to bring listeners closer to God...

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