Pak sitar player casts a spell

RENOWNED SITAR player from Pakistan Ustad Rais Khan mesmerised the audience with his performance at a music programme organised here on Saturday night. The programme was held under the joint auspices of the Sangeet Parishad of Kashi, Kala Prakash, a cultural organisation, Rotary Club Varanasi Central and Inner Wheel Club Varanasi Central.

RENOWNED SITAR player from Pakistan Ustad Rais Khan mesmerised the audience with his performance at a music programme organised here on Saturday night.

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The programme was held under the joint auspices of the Sangeet Parishad of Kashi, Kala Prakash, a cultural organisation, Rotary Club Varanasi Central and Inner Wheel Club Varanasi Central.

Sitar maestro Ustad Rais Khan and his son Farhan presented a duet and left the audience spellbound by their skillful rendition of various ‘ragas’.Ustad Rais Khan delineated the intricacies of Raga Yamini, which was much appreciated. Later, he played the tune ‘Pyar hai apse, zindagi pyar hai’.

Balkrishna Aiyer from Mumbai and Rakhonath Bandpadhyay accompanied him son the tabla. A budding child artiste, Shubhankar Dey, presented Raga Multani.

Earlier, the programme was started by garlanding the portrait of the late Dr Dinesh Majumdar, Shetla Prased Agnihotri and Rajkumar Khatri of the Sangeet Parishad by renowned thinker Dr Bhanushanker Mehta. Ustad Rais Khan also presented the famous Urdu couplet ‘Shama jalti hai ye kisi ne na socha, mome ke bhitar dhage ka jigar jalta hai’.