Shujaat Husain khan is perhaps the greatest north Indian classical musician of his generation. He belongs to the Imdad Kahn Gharana (tradition) of the star (lute) and is the seventh in the unbroken line form his family that has produced many musical masters. His style gayaki ang, is imitative of the subtleties of the human voice.
Shujaat Husain Khan is the son and disciple of master satirist Ustad Vilayat Kahn. His musical pedigree continues back through his grandfather Ustad Inayat Khan his great grandfather, Ustad Imdad Khan and his great-great grandfather Ustad Sahebdad Khan all leading artists of their generation.
At the age of three Shujaat Began practicing on a specially made small sitar and by the time he was six the child prodigy started giving public performances since then he has performed at all the prestigious music festivals in India and has traveled around the world performing in Asia, Africa, North American and Europe. Shujaat Husain khan has developed his own unique style of playing Indian classical music. His approach to rhythm is largely intuitive fresh and spontaneous always astonishing his audiences he is also known for his exceptional voice which he uses for singing folk songs and poetry. This album features one of his brilliant performances in a folk composition Jaana Meri Jaana based on raga tilak Kamod played in thumri style making it an exquisite piece of light classical music.
The feeling of the album is serene I’m not putting too much emphasis on speed and virtuosity and also avoiding formal Indian classicism the focus is on lyrics and melody. This album is not like waterfalls or hurricane. It is live like gentle mountain stream.
Raga Khem is one of the most ancient ragas in the history of Indian classical Music. It is usually played in evening night and has a romantic attribute. An Alap treatment is mostly hansadhwani with one peculiar phrase of Yaman. Ustad Shujaat Khan is probably best known for his involvements with the ensemble Ghazal which brought together Middle Eastern and Indian music. In this album he breaks no new ground but shows just how masterful a sitar player he is on the powerful alap improvisation on Raga Khem where he display’s a powerful imagination and once the raga rendition begins with able tabla accompaniment from Sankha Chatterjee Shujaat Khan also shows a light mellifluous vocal style. The other major piece here Jaana Meri Jaana offers an indication of his range moving into a folkeir style with a thumri that’s more melodic than the raga making this album a masterpiece.
Here are a few words Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan about Jaana Meri Jaana.
It is a folk composition one of the very first my father taught me. Sankha da reminded me after all this time. This is a song set in a village the village girls are teasing their friend. After meeting her lover she wants to go back home and he is not allowing her.
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