For listeners of qawwali, the spiritually ecstatic music developed by Sufi Muslims, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is the definitive performer of the style. But when he passed on in 1997, his nephew, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, picked up where his infamous uncle left off.

Since then, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has earned notable respect throughout Muslim countries for his beautiful music and voice. Khan was born in Faisalabad, Pakistan, and at his birth his uncle decided that he would become a student of qawwali. A "qual" is loosely translated as an "utterance," as in something said by the Prophet Muhammad. The qawwali musical style has traditionally been passed down from fathers to son, generation after generation. Some families claim to have qawwals in their family for centuries--Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan himself claimed to belong to a 600 year lineage of qawwals.

At three years old, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was continuing his uncle's tradition. At 15 years old, he had joined his band. After taking over the mantle from his uncle, he continued to expand the reach of qawwali into Western markets. This was something his uncle had done that some listeners felt was selling the music short by giving it more accessible pop structures. It also earned some ire when the music appeared in the Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers--which, after seeing what the movie was about, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did not feel expressed the sentiments of the music.

Rahat was more careful. He worked with Eddie Vedder on the Dead Man Walking Concert with Tim Robbins. And he released a critically praised, self-titled record of his own recordings in 2001.