The Last Prophet

1996 59mMovie

DocumentaryMusic

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is the last in the line of a family of Pakistani musicians who have dominated qawwali (Sufi song) for 600 years. The Sufis translate their belief in Islam through poetry, music and song, elevating their souls in public and going into a trance like state. I discovered the Music Room, a theatrical, mystical space, a tomb cut off from reality. It was here I decided that I would approach the intimate, spritual reality of the musician. I wanted to deal with the artist's "world" dimension, remixed house-and-funky style in England. In this way I could treat the question of art caught in a tug-of-war between proselytism and commerce