Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan at WOMAD 1985: Were you there?

Our first encounter with the legend of Qawwali music was when he performed at WOMAD Festival in 1985 on Mersea Island, Essex, which marked the beginning of a long association between Nusrat, WOMAD and Real World. We are making an open call to those of you who were at the festival that summer: we want to hear your memories of the historic concert, and if you have any photos of the event, we’d love to see them. All of your contributions will form part of a special feature we will publish later this year.

At the 1985 festival, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party gave their first performance for a primarily non-Asian audience with a recital lasting for more than four hours, finishing in the early dawn. Amongst the other artists on the line-up that year were New Order, The Fall, The Pogues, Penguin Café Orchestra, and Toots and the Maytals.

If you were at the event and have a story to tell, or a photograph to share, we’d love to hear from you.

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