Remembering the Ustad

To pay tribute to the legendary artiste Ustad Sultan Khan on his first death anniversary, a host of musicians — Zakir Hussain, Salim-Sulaiman, Fazal Qureshi, Karsh Kale, Deepak Pandit, Dilshad Khan, Sabir Khan and Akriti Kakkar — will perform at a concert.

Besides rendering compositions like Albela sajan aayo re and Piya basanti re, the late sarangi player and classical vocalist Ustad Sultan Khan sang unforgettable songs in films like Maqbool (2004), Kachche Dhaage (1999), Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) and Mausam (2011), among others.

The-music-fraternity-faced-yet-another-loss-as-renowned-singer-and-sarangi-player-Ustad-Sultan-Khan-breathed-his-last-this-afternoon-Here-s-a-look-at-Padma-Bhushan-awardee-s-journey

To pay tribute to the legendary artiste on his first death anniversary, a host of musicians — Zakir Hussain, Salim-Sulaiman, Fazal Qureshi, Karsh Kale, Deepak Pandit, Dilshad Khan, Sabir Khan and Akriti Kakkar — will perform at a concert today.

Ustad Khan was one of the members of the Indian fusion group, Tabla Beat Science, with Zakir Hussain. “My association with him goes back 35 years. We performed at innumerable concerts and experimented with new forms of jugalbandi. I’m very emotional about Khan sahib,” says Hussain, who’ll be presenting a solo tabla performance.

Violinist Deepak Pandit, who worked with Ustad Khan for an album of Indian folk songs last year, says, “I will be playing some evening ragas to pay a tribute to Ustadji.” Recalling a memorable moment with his guru, Pandit adds, “I had arranged music for his last album Legacy. During the making of the album, Ustadji said to me, ‘I want you to play the violin, so it will remind you of me later.’ He was like a father to me.”

After a successful concert at Jodhpur in November, the artistes are hoping to pay a fitting tribute to the maestro in Mumbai.

“Akriti, Sabir, Deepak and me tried to create magic with Piya basanti re in Jodhpur, and it worked. I hope we’ll be able to do the same in Mumbai,” says Hindustani classical vocalist Dilshad Khan.

“Both Salim and I performed for Khan sahab’s tribute festival in Jodhpur. We look forward to the performance today,” says Sulaiman. Organised by Saptsur Sansthan and Pancham Nishad, the concert will also include Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Javed Akhtar, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle.