Sing Along

Delhi-based sufi singer Zila Khan seems to be following in the footsteps of her father,legendary sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan. “My father loved teaching and was the best music teacher anybody could get,” says Khan,who opened doors to Ustadgah,a state-of-the-art gurukul at Panchsheel last week. Incidentally,the school,which also has a digital archive,art gallery,library and a resource centre,has three other branches at Gurgaon,Gol Market and Pusa Road . “I wanted a school where the students will learn not just to appreciate music,but also to preserve it,” she says. Incidentally Khan,is the only female singer in the Imdad gharana,and has a lineage of four generations of sitar maestros behind her.

Ustadgah,Khan says,will follow the traditional gurukul format,and will train the best musical talents picked from nationwide music workshops. The selected students,who will be taken on generous scholarships,will follow a rigorous discipline on campus. While the funding of the music school will come largely from donations,there will also be quarterly music festivals at the school for the purpose.

“The concept of Ustadgah came to me three years back. India has so many young talented students who want to learn music but fail to find a platform. I plan to give them an intricate grounding in Indian classical music,but they will also be allowed to explore other genres. That way,they will benefit from the world music scene

as well,” says Khan. So the students will begin their day listening to some rare archival recordings of Ustad Vilayat Khan’s time which Khan has preserved over the years,and then later in the day,have their dose of

contemporary music.

Her unorthodox teaching methods,she says,is a legacy from her father. “I am not going to break away from the tradition,but not be orthodox either,since it chains you. I am going to make sure that there is ample opportunity for the students to explore all forms of music,” she says. While Khan remains the principal mentor at the school,there will be workshops,lectures and sessions with various visiting musicians from time to time. “This school has been my dream for long. I just hope I can do justice to it,” she says.