BENGALURU: Patriotism is on high as the 67th Republic Day approaches. Ustad Rafique Khan, a revered sitarist and a sixth generation of musicians from Dharwad Gharana agrees with that as he will play the sitar with a twist.
He will be performing at Phoenix Marketcity today at 6.30 pm.
“Because it is Republic Day and because I will be performing in a mall. We decided to do a light fusion music with a patriotic theme,” says Ustad Rafique Khan.
Ustad Rafique Khan frequently performs in Bengaluru, the last one being about two weeks back. But he had never performed in the mall venue before although he was invited to during Deepavali. Republic Day has given Ustad Rafique a chance to perform in front of a casual crowd.
Popular music will seek a blend with the patriotic songs such as ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo’.
This also means that we will not be witnessing Gamak Taans, the art that he mastered and which is said to be the most difficult techniques of sitar. “But the music will be something the crowd will enjoy,” he says. The music will be improvised as classical music will blend with the popular music to make it something more familiar to the moving crowd. Khan will be performing with his team that he frequently performs with, Rajendra Nakod on the Tabla, Karthik Mani on the drums and Solomon on the Keyboard.
Ustad Rafique Khan is currently running an Academy of Hindustani Music at Mangalore and is working with All India Radio. His weekdays schedule that runs from 9.30 am to 5 pm, gives him a little time to practice his sangeet as students come to learn the art from places as far as Kerala in the evenings. However, he makes it a point to practice every morning even if it is for an hour. On Sundays, he usually performs in concerts.
“As a musician coming from a traditional family, it is a challenge to keep up with classical music as it keep evolving,” says the Hindustani Classical Sitarist.
Ustad Rafique Khan used to perform with his twin brother Shafique Khan, who is also a sitarist. The last performance they had together was on the second week of December in Dharwad in Jugalbandi.
“I do not perform with my brother as much as I used to, because people nowadays are preferring Jugalbandi with different instrument and not same instruments,” concludes Ustad Rafique Khan.