BackUstad Karamatullah Khan: Remembering a legend
A tribute show for a legendary tabla player comes to Mumbai for the first time
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Ask about her chachu (uncle), the late tabla doyen Ustad Karamatullah Khan, and Hindustani classical singer and Padma Bhushan awardee Begum Parween Sultana says, “Yeh toh suraj ko diya dikhane wali baat hai (it’s like holding a candle to the sun)". She remembers his visits to her family in Assam, the way he created a mahaul (ambience) for the little Sultana to get a taste of stage performances. This was in 1962, she was 12.
For the first time, the festival, which has always been held in Kolkata, will travel to four other cities. It will be held in Mumbai this weekend and will travel to New Delhi in June, and Chennai and Bangalore later in the year. It will return to Kolkata on 3 December, Karamatullah’s 37th death anniversary, for the inauguration of an “only tabla" academy. The show in Mumbai is being organized in collaboration with Kathak dancer Chitresh Das’ institution, Chhandam Nritya Bharati.
Karamatullah, the 32nd generation of the Farrukhabad gharana—one of the six prominent tabla gharanas, dating back to 1132—popularized his father Ustad Masit Khan’s creation, the Masitkhani gat composition. Now his son, Ustad Sabir Khan, and grandsons, Arif, Asif and Ameen, are taking forward the legacy. The two generations will play in Mumbai on Saturday, in a section titled “Forty Fingers of Farrukhabad". Sabir Khan says, “Along with our forefathers’ compositions, we will present glimpses of my father’s unheard of compositions."
The festival will feature Hindustani classical singing by Rashid Khan and a sitar recital by Nishat Khan on Saturday. There will be a Kathak recital by Chhandam students on Saturday, and by Das on Sunday.
A Tribute to Ustad Karamatullah Khan will be held on 12-13 April, 7pm, at Tata Theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), NCPA Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Tickets, ₹ 300, ₹ 500, ₹ 700, ₹ 1,000 and ₹ 1,500, available at the venue and on in.bookmshow.com
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