Shujaat Husain Khan
Encyclopedia
Shujaat Husain Khan is a noted Indian musician and sitar
player belonging to the Imdadkhani gharana
. He has over 60 albums to his credit besides a Grammy nomination. He has also been acclaimed for his vocals, and has performed in the band Ghazal
with Kayhan Kalhor
. His style of sitar playing, known as the gayaki ang, is imitative of the subtleties of the human voice.
; his great-grandfather, Ustad Imdad Khan
; and his great-great-grandfather, Ustad Sahebdad Khan - all leading artists and torchbearers of the Imdadkhani gharana with its roots in Mymensingh
(present day Bangladesh
). He has a brother, sitarist Hidayat Khan
and sisters sufi singer, Zila Khan
and Yaman Khan.
His approach to rhythm is largely intuitive, fresh and spontaneous, always astonishing his audiences. He is also known for his exceptional voice, which he uses for singing folk songs, including the album Lajo Lajo, as well as poetry, as in Hazaron Khwaishen.
Shujaat Khan was featured in the concerts celebrating India
's 50th anniversary of independence in 2007, and performed at the Carnegie Hall
, New York
, Paramount Theater
, Seattle, and Meyers Symphony Theater, Dallas. In a special performance, he also played at the United Nations in the Assembly Hall, Geneva
.
His memorable appearances include performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Royce Hall in Los Angeles and Congress Hall in Berlin. In the summer of 1999, he was the featured soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
. His collaboration with different genres of music has been a very strong point as is evidenced by the enormously successful Indo-Persian venture, the Ghazal Ensemble. Their album, Rain, was nominated for a Grammy award in 2004.
In January 2000, the Boston Herald
listed Shujaat Khan, along with luminaries like Seiji Ozawa
and Luciano Pavarotti
among the top 25 upcoming cultural events for the year.
He has been invited as visiting faculty at the Dartington School of Music in England, the University of Washington
in Seattle, and at UCLA.
He is also known as a fearless collaborator, lately having done wide ranging concerts with artists as diverse as Karsh Kale to a successful Jugalbandi with Pioneer Hindustani Vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan. One of the best remembered collaborations of the year 2009-2010 happens to be Melange. Featuring Tim Ries on the saxophone, Kevin Hays
on the piano, Karsh Kale
on percussion, Katayoun Goudarzi on vocals, Ustaad Shujaat Khan on sitar, Karl Peters
on bass and Yogesh Samsi
on tabla, Melange
has toured extensively across India.
Ustad Shujaat Khan has recently tied up with Inroom Records, a Mumbai-based experimental / fusion label and artist management company, to handle his collaborative work. His work with Ustad Rashid Khan is a property of Inroom Records.
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
player belonging to the Imdadkhani gharana
Imdadkhani gharana
The Imdadkhani gharana is a North Indian school of sitar and surbahar music, stemming from the very ancient Gwalior gharana. It was created by Imdad Khan , and is also known as the Etawah gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad lived...
. He has over 60 albums to his credit besides a Grammy nomination. He has also been acclaimed for his vocals, and has performed in the band Ghazal
Ghazal (band)
Ghazal is a band formed by Kurdish-Iranian kamencheh player Kayhan Kalhor, Indian sitarist Shujaat Khan, and Indian tabla player Swapan Chaudhuri...
with Kayhan Kalhor
Kayhan Kalhor
Kayhan Kalhor , born 24 November 1963, is an Iranian kamancheh player, composer and master of classical Kurdish and Persian music.-Youth and studies:...
. His style of sitar playing, known as the gayaki ang, is imitative of the subtleties of the human voice.
Early life
Born in Calcutta to legendary sitar player, Ustad Vilayat Khan. He has musical pedigree that goes back seven generations: his grandfather, Ustad Enayat KhanEnayat Khan
Enayat Khan was one of India's most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the topmost sitariyas of the postwar period....
; his great-grandfather, Ustad Imdad Khan
Imdad Khan
Ustad Imdad Khan was a sitar and surbahar player. His two sons Enayat Khan and Wahid Khan, his grandsons Vilayat Khan and Imrat Khan, and great-grandsons Shahid Parvez, Shujaat Khan, Nishat Khan, Irshad Khan, Wajahat Khan, Shafaatullah Khan and Hidayat Khan have all upheld his musical tradition,...
; and his great-great-grandfather, Ustad Sahebdad Khan - all leading artists and torchbearers of the Imdadkhani gharana with its roots in Mymensingh
Mymensingh
Mymensingh , pronounced moy-mon-shing-haw, is a city of Bangladesh situated on the river Brahmaputra. It is the headquarters of the administrative unit Mymensingh District. Mymensingh is the anglicized pronunciation of the original name Momenshahi, referring to a ruler called Momen Shah. The cadet...
(present day Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
). He has a brother, sitarist Hidayat Khan
Hidayat Khan
Hidayat Hussain Khan a sitar virtuoso, classical singer is the son of the legend Ustad Vilayat Khan...
and sisters sufi singer, Zila Khan
Zila Khan
Zila Hussain Khan is an Indian sufi singer. She sings classical and semi-classical musical forms She performs in the tradition of Imdadkhani gharana.-Early life:...
and Yaman Khan.
Performing career
Shujaat Husain Khan has performed at numerous music festivals in India and has traveled around the world performing in Asia, Africa, North America and Europe.His approach to rhythm is largely intuitive, fresh and spontaneous, always astonishing his audiences. He is also known for his exceptional voice, which he uses for singing folk songs, including the album Lajo Lajo, as well as poetry, as in Hazaron Khwaishen.
Shujaat Khan was featured in the concerts celebrating India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's 50th anniversary of independence in 2007, and performed at the Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Paramount Theater
Paramount Theater
Paramount Theater or Paramount Theatre may refer to:In China*Paramount or Paramount Theatre, Shanghai, ChinaIn the United States *Paramount Theater on the U.S...
, Seattle, and Meyers Symphony Theater, Dallas. In a special performance, he also played at the United Nations in the Assembly Hall, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
.
His memorable appearances include performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Royce Hall in Los Angeles and Congress Hall in Berlin. In the summer of 1999, he was the featured soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to country...
. His collaboration with different genres of music has been a very strong point as is evidenced by the enormously successful Indo-Persian venture, the Ghazal Ensemble. Their album, Rain, was nominated for a Grammy award in 2004.
In January 2000, the Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
listed Shujaat Khan, along with luminaries like Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
and Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
among the top 25 upcoming cultural events for the year.
He has been invited as visiting faculty at the Dartington School of Music in England, the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle, and at UCLA.
He is also known as a fearless collaborator, lately having done wide ranging concerts with artists as diverse as Karsh Kale to a successful Jugalbandi with Pioneer Hindustani Vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan. One of the best remembered collaborations of the year 2009-2010 happens to be Melange. Featuring Tim Ries on the saxophone, Kevin Hays
Kevin Hays
Kevin Hays is a jazz pianist. He was raised in Greenwich, ConnecticutHe is known for the Kevin Hays Trio and being in the Bill Stewart Trio....
on the piano, Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale
Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...
on percussion, Katayoun Goudarzi on vocals, Ustaad Shujaat Khan on sitar, Karl Peters
Karl Peters
Karl Peters , was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author, the prime mover behind the foundation of the German colony of East Africa...
on bass and Yogesh Samsi
Yogesh Samsi
-Early life:Yogesh Samsi born to renowned vocalist Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. His father the eminent vocalist Dinkar Kaikini initiated Yogesh at the age of six. At the age of four he started learning the tabla from Pandit H. Taranth Rao. Later, he sought the guidance of Ustad Allarakha Khan, one of the...
on tabla, Melange
Melange
Melange also called the "spice" is the name of the fictional drug central to the Dune series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert, and derivative works....
has toured extensively across India.
Ustad Shujaat Khan has recently tied up with Inroom Records, a Mumbai-based experimental / fusion label and artist management company, to handle his collaborative work. His work with Ustad Rashid Khan is a property of Inroom Records.