Musicians,events,anecdotes and tid-bits

[padmanabha]

Born in Jalander of undivided India, Khalid Anwar JAN migrate to Lahore on the eve of Independence. He went to Muscat to earn a living, and for the past three decades he has been teaching classical music. Meet this Pakistani vocalist who was in this city for a short stay.

In the interview he talked at length about KIRANA Gharana, the golden period of music its sad decline in Pakistan.

For Khalid music is always his first love. I do not belong to family of musicians. But all the family members love music. I still remember how we gather round the small radio every Saturday 9 pm to listen to the classical music-said Jan a chronic bachelor.

“At Muscat there are plenty of Keralites and most of my students are Malayalees. I came to India because of my disciple Manjari. SHE IS PERFROMING HERE AT THE Surya FESTIVAL. I AM HERE TO HEAR HER. “

THE VOCALIST HAD HIS TRAINING under the guidance of Feroz Nizami of Kirana Gharana. Nizami has composed a number of compositions for Hindi films including Jugunoo,starring Dileep Kumar and Noor Jahan,

Many consider Abdul Karim Khan as the founder of Kirana Kharana, Pople gather in thousands to hear Karim Khan expansive Bhairavi and Thodi at the Khwaja Mira Saheb Dargah.

Swaii Gandarwa the prominent disciple of Karim KHAN WAS ALSO A THEATRE Maniac. Once he refused to accompany his master on thampura saying that he had a sore throat and participated in a stage play. The master cursed him and since then Sawaii had to start singing one hour before the performance to clear his throat. Detractors of this Gharana mistook this exercise for the raagalap.Even now traditionalists sing aalap without rhythm accompaniment for about an hour-said Khalid Jan.
In the last century we had plenty of legendary musicians like Roshanara Beegum, Bade Ali Khan, Abdul Waheer Khan and Mubaraq Ali. Their repertoire was rich with tumri, dadra and ghazals. I could imbibe a lot from these singers.

According to Jan, India still has patrons for classical music. But in Pakistan it is almost declined. They consider classical music as outdated ones. They have lost aesthetic sense. We the classical singers have reduced to mere gaanae bhajanae wallahs.
He spoke at length about ghazals love lyrics of Persian origin. They are 10 centuries old and it was its brevity and rich suggestiveness that conquered the music lovers’ heart. It have deep root in Pakistan also. Iqbaal Banoo and Noor Jahan were the legendary singers.

This musician never misses Malayalam films.” Sathyan is my favorite actor and Yesudas is my favorite singer.” (436 words)
Qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq