Zayn: The Official Autobiography by ZAYN

Author:ZAYN [ZAYN]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781405928885
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2016-10-31T18:30:00+00:00

Not long afterwards, Malay and me were spending an afternoon sitting around the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel, writing down lyrics and messing about with melodies. Malay had his portable recording rig with him and the pair of us were talking about the Pakistani musician Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I was really into him, because my dad had played his music a lot at home; I loved that the dude sang in Urdu, for one thing. A lot of people who know his music reckon he was one of the greatest artists of all time. He also turned a lot of people on to qawwali music.

As we were chatting, Malay picked up the Martin Backpacker and began playing a little riff, based on an idea I’d shown him earlier that day – a melody I’d been playing with. He added a few twists and, immediately, it sounded amazing. I was like, ‘Man, this is so cool. We should record some of this. And I think I want to sing this one in Urdu, like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.’

Malay set up the mic by the pool. There was a little waterfall nearby that was rippling away, and it really added to the atmosphere. I knew that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music came from a spiritual place, and it was also almost like jazz: his band would find a hook, and they would sing and play it, but what happened next was pretty much improvisation. ‘Intermission: Flowers’ soon took on a similar vibe. I was just riffing lyrics in Urdu over Malay’s looped guitar, and we got it down.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan passed away in 1997, but in May 2016 I heard talk that his nephew wanted to perform with me, to do a gig somewhere in India. He had taken on being the main guy in the band after his uncle’s death and, once he’d heard the story of ‘Flower’, he reached out. Doing something with him – anything – would be an honour. Fingers crossed we can make it work.

By the way, here’s the translation of the lyrics: ‘Until the flower of this love has blossomed / This heart won’t be at peace Give me your heart …’

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