Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan’s music is powered by his passion for music

Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan had his assemblage wholly hooked astatine his caller performance successful Delhi. In the assemblage was Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, his elder by a decade. This performance was antithetic — from an incredibly precise five-note ‘meends’ and accelerated ‘taans,’ to elegant ‘gamaks’, ‘jhala’ played successful the beenkaar ang’, and analyzable ‘layakaari’ — it had them all.

Belonging to the seventh procreation of the famed Imdadkhani gharana of sitariyas., Shahid Parvez did not person it easy. He was initiated into euphony by his begetter Aziz Khan, who could not marque a people arsenic a musician. However, Shahid Parvez’s gramps Ustad Wahid Khan was a noted musician, but was overshadowed by his much feted, older member Ustad Inayat Khan.

In an interrogation a fewer years ago, the sitar exponent had shared however arsenic a young lad helium was told to play some for himself and his father. Apart from this, erstwhile helium emerged connected signifier successful the aboriginal 1970s, helium had to vie with sitarists from his ain household specified arsenic Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Imrat Khan and Ustad Rais Khan. Then determination were besides different greats specified arsenic Pt. Ravi Shankar, Pt. Nikhil Bannerji and Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan. While cousins Shujaat Khan, Nishat Khan and Irshad Khan had their fathers promoting them, Shahid Parvez had nary specified support. He gradually made a people with dedicated ‘riyaaz’.

At 1 of his archetypal large concerts (in Delhi successful the aboriginal 1970s), his begetter was connected the signifier with him, and, astatine 1 constituent during the concert, his begetter subtly indicated thing to his teenage son. Shahid Parvez fto alert a staggeringly accelerated and wide ‘sapaat taan’, covering 3 octaves, that had the assemblage successful awe. But, helium did not repetition this ‘taan’ again, contempt his mastery. The cognition of erstwhile to execute what and for what duration, remains 1 of Shahid Parvez’s astir laudable attributes.

Another cautiously thought retired performance-strategy, of him, is not to repetition what others had performed before. He deliberately did not execute the accepted compositions of his illustrious family, and himself composed simpler easy absorbed compositions. The household usually preferred performing successful ‘teentaal’. Shahid Parvez is much into ‘rupak’ and ‘jhaptaal’ compositions. He created his ain benignant implicit the decades; 1 that is today, emulated by scores of sitarists.

An older procreation of listeners rues the deficiency of ‘bolkaari’ successful sitariyas of today; artistes specified arsenic Shahid Parvez person converted this excessively into an plus alternatively than a lack. The fluidity of the euphony is not breached up by dense stroke-work. 

What Shahid Parve’z performance proved was, adjacent an artiste, the stature of an ‘Ustad’ needs to beryllium himself sometimes; the complacency of mastery has nary spot connected stage. He needs to delve heavy into his euphony to bring distant an artistically cleanable presentation; contempt having performed it thousands of times before.