LONDON - Pakistan’s top singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is set to be awarded an honorary degree from the world’s prestigious University of Oxford on June 26th in a ceremony titled “Encaniea”. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is among eight people that will be conferred with an honorary degree.
The university has described Rahat Fateh Ali Khan as “Pakistani singer, primarily of Qawwali, a devotional music of the Muslim Sufis.”
“Rahat Ali Khan has sung more than 50 title tracks of television serials and over 100 film songs in both Hollywood and Bollywood,” the statement added. Earlier, a rehearsal hall of the university has also been named after him in 2017. This is the highest honour for any South Asian singer. The music room was named The Rahat Fateh Ali Khan music room.
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is the nephew of the maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and is an equally celebrated singer in India and Pakistan. He began his career at the age of three, under the guidance on King of Qawwali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Since then, he has taken on the responsibility of carrying forward his 600-year-old family legacy by spreading qawwali to audiences across the globe.