The moment his little boy turned four,Ustad Shaqoor Ali Khan began teaching him the nuances which made up the Kiraana gharana one of the foremost music schools with famous alumni such as musicians Pt Bhimsen Joshi,Gangubai Hangal and Prabha Atre. Over the years,Khan gave his son the guidance and information which had to be harboured,nurtured and followed with no questions to be asked. The boy never did. It was blasphemous. So in the sleepy little town of Kairana,near Muzaffarnagar,(after which the gharana is named),he learnt the use of the sargam taan (patterns of music comprising notations),the style of delineating a particular raga in vilambit gat (slow tempo) and taking the entire scale in an uninterrupted loop ideas and theories that have become reminiscent of the renditions of the gharana. But the pressure before a concert was and is always massive. I would be beaten black and blue if anything went wrong. My fathers beatings are hard to forget. But then he loved me enormously too. As for music,he could not stand anything besura from his son. Also,the familys name had to be kept untarnished, says Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan,a direct descendent of Ustad Abdul Rahim Khan and Ustad Ustad Wahid Ali Khan,the founders of Kiraana gharana,and men who are considered two of the finest musicians in the country. On October 9,Mashkoor Ali Khan will open the second day of the prestigious Delhi Classical Music Festival presented by Department of Art,Culture & Languages and Punjabi Academy. The festival will open on October 8 with the serenity offered by the bhajans of Pt Jasraj,followed by a vichitra veena performance by Ustad Mustafa Raza,whose tutelage comprises a blend of Moradabad and Patiala gharana styles. Kajris,chaitis and jhulas will also be a part of the festival and will come to the fore with a performance by 85-year-old thumri exponent Girija Devi,who will take the stage on the third day. This will be one of her first few performances after the recent gall bladder surgery. Her performance will be preceded by Meeta Pandit,an important name from the Gwalior gharana,whose lightning speed sapaat taans have wowed the audience for a while. But it is the festival finale that boasts of two significant names in the history of Indian music. Santoor maestro Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma and renowned flautist Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia will take centrestage on the final day. Though slated as soloists,there is hardly a doubt that the audience will let go of the two without a jugalbandi in a performance that is already generating some buzz in the classical circles. Their memorable scores in a slew of Yashraj Films as Shiv-Hari are widely popular. The four-day festival will begin on October 8,at Kamani Auditorium from 6 pm onwards. Entry by passes
