Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh has shared a deeply personal moment, revealing that a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan qawwali once left him in tears right before he had to get on stage for a show.
During a recent Instagram Live session, Dosanjh shared what happened while he was getting ready for yoga ahead of his performance in Milan.
He said he put on “Man Atkeya Beparwah De Naal” and when the lyrics “Qazi mulla matti dinde, khare siyane raah dasinde [The judges and clerics (formal authorities) give textbook lectures, the truly wise actually show you the path]” came up, something “broke” inside him.
“After hearing those words, I sat down on my yoga mat and started crying,” Dosanjh said.
He continued describing how deeply the lyrics affected him. “After hearing all those words, I don’t know how deeply they affected me. I was crying my heart out. I cried for about five to ten minutes, and then I started yoga.”
Dosanjh added that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s lyrics hold a kind of truth that stays with people long after they hear it, saying some lines simply enter you and never leave.
This is not the first time Dosanjh has paid tribute to the legendary Pakistani qawwal.
During his historic concert at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 12, where he became the first Punjabi artist to headline the venue in front of a crowd of around 90,000 people, Dosanjh performed “Sanson Ki Mala”, a composition associated with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
