He plays the tabla left-handed, but boy does he know his tintal or jhaptal or what! It was a delight to watch Asif Ali play the tabla at the All Pakistan Music Conference accompanying sarangi player Akhtar Husain in Karachi.

Asif Ali was only 11 years old when his first major gig as a tabla nawaz happened. He has learned his art from greats such as Baba Tufail Khan Narowaliyey and his father Ustad Abdul Hameed Khan. It was in 1991 when he got a chance to play with the one and only Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan that AA acquired reasonable renown. Ever since he's done shows with ghazal singer Ghulam Ali and the current rage in the world of music Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

Now the point is it's time genuine musicians came to the fore, not people who play candy-floss music.

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