Rahat
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan

Komail Naqvi (Flickr Creative Commons)

Students to play alongside 'legendary' Pakistani singer

Matt Pickles

Legendary Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has hundreds of millions of views on his YouTube channel.

But he will play to a more intimate audience at Oxford University this week.

He will play alongside Oxford students in a ‘once in a lifetime concert’ at the Sheldonian Theatre tonight.

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is giving a concert to help raise money to support the work of Oxford University’s Faculty of Music.

The money raised will be invested in further concerts that promote musicians from diverse backgrounds including Indian classical musicians.

He is also donating a harmonium played by his celebrated uncle, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Mr Khan is a popular Pakistani singer, primarily of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Muslim Sufis.

‘We are thrilled and honoured to be welcoming distinguished musician Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan,’ says Professor Jonathan Cross of the Faculty of Music. ‘Both as a player of traditional Pakistani Qawwali music and as a leading figure in Pakistani and Bollywood film music, his reputation is global.

‘We expect this to be the first of many concerts of music from the Indian subcontinent hosted by the Faculty. It represents a new and exciting opportunity for our students and staff to engage with these important musical traditions.’

Unfortunately the concert is already sold out. But stay tuned for more Pakistani music coming to Oxford in the future. And in the meantime, enjoy his song Zaroori Tha, which has been watched almost 200 million times: