Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is the only Pakistani musician to have made it big on the International stage. Nusrat started singing Qawaali, a form of Muslim devotional music, in the 1970s. His early work was very traditional in style, but with time he began to experiment, creating a fusion of East and West sounds. As his reputation grew, he got involved in working with International artists, most notably Peter Gabriel, for whom he recorded numerous albums.

In 1991, Nusrat released his finest work, Mast Qalander, which is the best selling Qawaali album of all time. Nusrat worked on many soundtracks in both the East and West during the 1990s. Nusrat's voice featured in Natural Born Killers (1994) and Dead Man Walking (1995). Nusrat was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards in 1997. And later that same year, at the height of his popularity, Nusrat suddenly died. A major tragedy for world music, one of its finest voices was silenced forever at such a young age.