Actually, Zayn Malik isn't the first artist to feature desi tracks in his music

Zayn Malik sure still has the 1D touch. He dropped his first solo album today and caused a furore.

Part of the hullaboloo was about just one song in the album.

Titled 'Flower', the intermission track features 104 seconds of Zayn singing in Urdu.

According to NME, the two-lyric number goes like “Jab tak is mohabbat ke phool na khilay / Tab tak is dill ko sukoon na miley” (Until the flower of this love has blossomed/This heart won’t be at peace).

You can imagine the delight of his desi fans.

And even his non-desi ones were impressed.

People are making a really big deal about this.

We mean, really big.

However, this isn't the first time us desis went global in the music sphere.

From the music of maestros like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Lata Mangeshkar getting a western treatment to the likes of Bohemia making Punjabi rap mainstream, desis have been making waves for a while. Let's take a closer look.

1) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

The Qawwali King had become a rocker favourite in his lifetime.

Peter Gabriel and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder made full use of his powerhouse qawwali vocals in the soundtracks of films like The Last Temptation of Christ and Dead Man Walking. NFAK further experimented with fusing his qawwali with Western music in Peter Gabriel's Real World label albums, Mustt Mustt and Star Rise.