Pak musician on making music with Mel Gibson in `Apocalypto'

Pakistani musician Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is winning accolades for his background score of Mel Gibson’s Oscar nominated ‘Apocalypto’.  

He has earlier performed with  rockstar Eddie Weder and and Hollywood’s music biggie James Horner in ‘Four Feathers’. However, this film gave Rahat his most versatile musical experience yet.

“In this film we worked with purely natural sounds minus any electronica, which made the nuances of the sounds very sharp and unpredictable,” says the nephew of Qawwali king Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Rahat, who was invited to do a film by musician James Horner for the second time, however acknowledges that though James was easy to work with, actor Mel Gibson is not someone one can easily please.

“I was tailoring sounds for a civilisation where music as such never existed. A  week after we started working, Mel entered our studio and made a lot of changes. He is not easy to work with, but eventually he loved my work,” says Rahat. However it was Gibson’s love for Ustad Nusrat’s music that helped  them connect

 “He told me that is a big fan of Nusrat’s Saab and had once witnessed his live performance with Madonna. Though he thinks nobody can replace Nusrat Saab’s poignant voice, a word of appreciation from him really encouraged me,” he adds.

Rahat will be in Mumbai on March 11 to promote his yet-to-be named first solo album that clubs Indian western classical sounds and for some live shows in India.

u_divya@dnaindia.net