Intoxicated Spirit

Album Review

This, the second of four Pakistani releases licensed by Shanachie, was a big seller when it arrived in U.S. record stores at the height of Nusrat-mania. It's a live recording featuring four long pieces. The sound is crisp and unfettered, decidedly less rich than on the Real World sessions, but good enough to let the listener enjoy another incendiary Nusrat session. The opening piece, "Yehjo Halka Halka Saroor Hai," unfolds through successively intense passages of composed melody and improvisation and clocks in just under 25 minutes, considerably longer than the studio version of this piece featured on The Day, the Night, the Dawn, the Dusk (Shanachie, 1991). The notes give a complete translation of the piece's lyrics, which describe an obsessive love that displaces even the singer's religion and can only be compared to intoxication: "Your love and your bewitching eyes have induced me to become a drunkard." For the remaining three pieces, you're on our own lyricwise, but the music itself communicates plenty. Another very long piece begins with an extended slow section that makes the lashing rhythms and florid improvisations that come later still more powerful. The final piece offers a surprise, a traditional sarangi (violin) and qanun (zither) joining the standard tabla and harmonium accompaniment. The track begins in a peaceful, reflective mode but ultimately ascends to the highly charged energy level that Pakistani audiences demand from the greatest star qawwali music has ever produced.