Kehna Ghalat Ghalat To Chhupana Sahi Sahi

Kehna Ghalat Ghalat To Chhupana Sahi Sahi is a qawwali composition performed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The track appears as the sixth entry on the album Shahen-shah, released on CD in 1989 under the Real World label. The recording spans 13 minutes and 59 seconds, showcasing Khan’s signature vocal improvisations within the framework of traditional Sufi poetic themes.

The album Shahen-shah marks one of Khan’s early international collaborations, produced during a period when his work gained broader recognition outside South Asia. The track exemplifies the fusion of classical khyal phrasing with the rhythmic and melodic structures of qawwali, accompanied by harmonium, tabla, and chorus responses. Lyrics employ Urdu and Punjabi dialects, exploring themes of divine love and human fallibility through metaphorical language.

Khan’s rendition in this track features extended alaap sections, rapid taan sequences, and call-and-response exchanges with his ensemble. The composition’s title translates roughly to \"Speaking Wrongly is Wrong, but Hiding the Truth is Right,\" reflecting the paradoxical moral dilemmas often addressed in Sufi poetry. Instrumentation includes traditional percussion and melodic accompaniment, though specific session musicians remain undocumented in widely available sources.

Shahen-shah was recorded during Khan’s association with producer Peter Gabriel through the Real World label, which aimed to introduce global audiences to non-Western musical traditions. The album’s release coincided with Khan’s rising prominence in world music circuits, though detailed recording locations or session dates for this track are not publicly verified. The 1989 CD format included liner notes in English, French, and German, positioning the work for international distribution.

Notable aspects of the track include its dynamic shifts between meditative and ecstatic passages, a hallmark of Khan’s live performances. The album’s title, Shahen-shah (\"King of Kings\"), does not directly relate to the track’s lyrical content but aligns with the regal imagery often invoked in qawwali traditions. Later reissues of the album retained the original tracklisting, though some compilations excerpted shorter segments of this composition for broader accessibility.