I was just studying with my father, a very difficult task for me since he was a great, great Qawwali singer.
My father gave me formal education in raagdari. He died in Lahore in 1964 when I was 13. I was in the tenth year of school, and my father's brother took me into the qawwali ensemble and started giving me formal education in qawwali.
There is a famous musician, Peter Gabriel, who has used my voice in the movie, 'The Last Temptation of Christ.' He used my song in the background.
A performer learns with experience and with age. I did not know the future when I left home and started out to begin my career: I started qawaali; then I met Peter Gabriel and was exposed to a lot of new ideas.
From childhood, I had been instructed in the tablaa by my father, along with the astaais and antaraas specific to our Gharana.
As the times change, people change, and so do their tastes, so I try to understand what the public wants, what they require. I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.
I am not a Sufi, but I follow the Sufi.
There are two languages that I love: Farsi and Panjabi. Because the depth of Sufi thought in these two languages cannot be found in any other language.
