![]() ![]() He was keen that I perform and don’t get too occupied with domestic responsibilities,” says Sultana, who received the Padma Shri at 26. Having Khan sahab as a guru helped, as he knew what my voice was capable of. ![]() “The concept of jugalbandi can work well only when blood relatives or husband-wife perform together. ![]() Two years later, they were married and became popular as a performing duo. It was at Lahiri’s house that she met Ut Dilshad Khan of the Kirana gharana and began learning from him. To evolve you must learn and understand what everyone has to offer,” she says. “A parent gharana is important but one need not bind themselves. After her initial training with Birendra Kumar Phukan and Hiren Sarma, she learned from Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri, a Bengali musician who lived in Lucknow and had trained under nine gharanas. “He only allowed Lata ji and Rafi sahab or classical musicians to be played in the house,” says Sultana, who also followed the style of Ut Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ut Salamat Khan. He taught her, but was strict about what she heard. The passion for music was caught early on by Sultana’s father, an Afghan musician named Ikramul Mazid. The satisfaction classical music gives me, the sadhana of it, the pleasure of it, the godliness of it, can’t be replaced by anything,” says Sultana. I wanted to do so much more than just sing for those five-seven minutes. But as beautiful as these compositions are, film music never satisfied me. “It was quite an experience working with a legend like Naushad sahab. A popular thumri in the colourful Mishra Khamaj, this night melody went on in the background, when Sahibjaan climbs the steps of a kotha in Lucknow. I still practice in front of this huge aaina,” says Sultana.īegum had made her film debut with Naushad’s Kaun gali gayo Shyam in Kamal Amrohi’s Pakeezah (1971). My father, also my first teacher, wanted delicate expressions, and a dignified style of presentation. “Apart from the pronunciation, I’d sit in front of a huge mirror and sing. Presentation, says Sultana, was something she learnt early on in life. Her sentences - in Hindi and English - are marked by a robust Assamese accent, the kind that completely vanishes when she approaches her trademark Bhawani, dayani in the pentatonic Bhairavi, or when she tells her beloved Ghar jaane de, chhad mori baiyya, in the profound night raga of Darbari Kanhada. The festival also includes performances by rudra veena icon Bahauddin Dagar, Pt Jasraj, Ut Shujaat Khan and Bhajan Sopori, among others. She will open Sahitya Kala Parishad and Government of Delhi’s prestigious Delhi Classical Music Festival today. My father thought I was ready,” says Patiala gharana doyenne Begum Parveen Sultana in a phone conversation from Mumbai. ![]() This was at a time when parents were conscious of their children being on stage too early and didn’t allow them until their guru permitted. ![]()
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