Sultan Fateh enthrals classical music lovers

Islamabad

It was an unusually pleasant evening for Islamabad in the month of April and the performance by Sultan Fateh Ali Khan, the eldest son of legendary Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, was indeed very entertaining.

The musical evening was arranged by the Mausikaar Welfare Trust to present two young amateur singers, Dawood, 12 and Zakriya 11-year-old besides a young lady, Ms Parisa Haroon.

The two youngsters started learning classical music from Sultan Fateh Ali Khan at as young an age as 6 and 5 years respectively and last evening they certainly made their teacher a very proud person.

The duo of Dawood and Zakriya presented classical ragas ‘Durga bandish in Jhap tall’, ‘Durga Tarana in teen aal’, ‘Jonpuri Bandish teen taal’ and ‘Tarana eik taal’ while Ms Parisa Haroon recited ‘Raag Bhageshwri’ and ‘Khamaj Thumri’. They sang well and entertained quite a sizeable gathering huddled together on the floor and on chairs which were available.

Somehow, for some inexplicable reasons the ‘Mausikaar’ did not arranged this musical evening at the Sir Syed Memorial Auditorium. Mr Sohail and Mrs Doreen Kiyani, graciously offered their place, located in E-11 to the ‘Mausikaar’ to arrange the musical evening and the guests thoroughly enjoyed their hospitality.

The youngsters entertained the guests to the best, but it was the masterly performance by Sultan Fateh Ali Khan, which enthralled the classical music lovers present at the function. Accompanied by Faizan Ali on ‘tabla’ and Sheraz Hussain on harmonium, Sultan Fateh Ali gave a sterling performance. He sang classical ragas as well as some of the very popular ‘ghazals’ of yester years on the request pouring from the audience.

Representing the famous school of classical music, the Patiala Gharana, Sultan Fateh Ali recited a famous ‘Asthai’, ‘Khush Reh Sanam Mora’, in raag ‘Pooriya Ghanashri’, which he claimed was originally presented by one disciple of his great grandfather to express his gratitude and respects being his teacher and mentor.

Other ragas he recited on the occasion were ‘raag Koshak Dhuni’ (Aj hun aa’ay Balamwa), ‘raag Pooriya Ghanashri’ and ‘raag Malkauns’. His performance of ‘raag Pooriya Ghanashri’ was particularly enthralling in which he time and again challenged the table player, Faizan Ali who responded by toping him and the match between the two was an exciting duel which was particularly enjoyed by those who understood the value and importance of such competition between the singer and the table player!

In addition to the pure classical ragas, Sultan Fateh Ali also recited various ‘ghazals' on demand from the audience which included a ‘kafi’ ‘Lagi Walayan noon neend nai aandi’, ‘Piyar nahi hay sur say jis ko’, ‘Zindgi may to sabhi piyar kiya kartay hain’ and some others.

Among the guests the Austrian Ambassador Ms Blaha Brigiatte, the head of the Pakistan Academy of Letter Qasim Bughio, former ambassador Humayun Qazi, and Ambassador Salahuddin, and the female ‘sitarist’ and music composer, Ms Baseerat Raees, patrons of ‘Mausikaar’ Hassan Raza, Omar Durrani, Ms Almina and Mrs Salahuddin were prominent.

The President of Mausikaar Welfare Trust for Classical Music, Dr Seema Khan, Ms Mahreen Khan and Mrs Faiza Zafar Iqbal were present to welcome and accommodate the guests on behalf of the organisers.