Riz Ahmed samples Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on new album ‘The Long Goodbye’

Known for roles in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and award-winning HBO series The Night Of, Ahmed’s new album The Long Goodbye is a turbulent exploration of identity and belonging. On ‘The Break Up (Shikwa)’, he uses a romantic relationship as a detailed extended metaphor for life in post-Brexit Britain.

The sample of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on the opening track of the album is lifted from a live WOMAD recording of ‘Allah Hoo Allah Hoo’. Nusrat and the qawwal ‘Ali Ali Dam Ali Ali’ are also mentioned on the track ‘Can I Live’.

Taking cues from Sufi devotional music and poetry, Ahmed explains that he wanted to hold up a mirror to the rising tide of division in the land he calls home.

“It’s a breakup album, but with your country. I wanted to make something that lets people into the feeling of this heartbreak, the anger, the denial, the acceptance, the realisation, self-esteem and self-love.“

The Long Goodbye is out now on Mongrel Records, and is accompanied by a short film of the same name.

Stream the album