Music for the Soul with Sitar Maestro Ustad Shafaat Khan & East Meets West
Sunday, June 23, 2024 @ 6pm
LTV’S WORLD VOICES SERIES PRESENTS
Music for the Soul with Sitar Maestro Ustad Shafaat Khan & East Meets West
Back by Popular Demand!
Ustad Shafaat Khan, world renowned Indian Classical musician debuted at the Kingslynn Festival opened by the Queen of England. He has marked his respect as an unparalleled musician who has attained a high level of excellence in performing on Sitar, Surbahar, Vocal, and Tabla in single concerts and recordings. He is son of Ustad Imrat Khan and nephew of Ustad Vilayat Khan, has performed worldwide at many prestigious concert halls, music festivals and universities all over India, America, Europe, China, Russia and Japan. Recently, he performed with Stevie Wonder at one of the biggest festivals in the USA, The Bonnaroo Festival. In the past, he shared a television concert with Ray Charles in Germany. In addition, some of his CDs have been produced by the famous Dr. Deepak Chopra. In the rich history of Indian classical music, Mr. Khan has distinguished himself by being the first known artist to have attained simultaneous excellence in performing sitar, surbahar and tabla.
His performance is an energetic, exciting and educational way for audiences to engage themselves and tap into other cultures. Maestro Khan also educates the audience about the history of our music, Raags, Taal, instruments and techniques. He performs pieces that highlight Classical music and other light forms of music such as Qawwali, Ghazal, Thumri and Bollywood.
Reviews
"Virtuoso...Classical purity astonishing... intellectual and poetic...creator as well as performer"
– The Washington Post
"Star in the world of classical music... the thunderous ovation never ceased throughout his performance"
– Chandigarh Tribune India
"Absolutely superb"
– The Times London, England
"Indian music at its top level...Shafaat's Sitar/Tablas magic might still be going on, it was barley stoppable"
– The Shoestring in Pacem, USA
"Driving power entered the performance when Shafaat's marvelous instrument showed us the rhythmic complexity of the music and enthralled the audience"
– Cork Examiner, Ireland
Ustad Shafaat Khan, world-renowned Indian Classical musician, son of Ustad Imrat Khan and nephew of Ustad Vilayat Khan, has performed worldwide at many prestigious concert halls, music festivals and universities throughout India, America, Europe, China, Russia and Japan. Recently he performed with Stevie Wonder at The Bonnaroo Festival, and in the past he’s shared a television concert with Ray Charles in Germany. His CDs have been produced by Dr. Deepak Chopra. In the rich history of Indian classical music, Mr. Khan has distinguished himself by being the first known artist to have attained simultaneous excellence in performing sitar, surbahar and tabla. He performs songs of Eastern and Western traditions, often uniquely merged, joined by his ensemble of musicians accompanying on sax, guitar, tabla and western percussion.
Anawim Avila is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who has enjoyed an eclectic musical life. Hailing from a family of musicians, he began his professional career playing bass for his father’s (Juan Avila) latin-blues fusion ensemble while moonlighting in a Mariachi duo. Since then, he has worked with a wide range of artists and ensembles including the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir, the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Billy Harper, Bobby Zankel, Les Savy Fav, Marcellus Hall, Source of Yellow, The Holy Childhood, Jessica Pavone, Matt Davis, Amir Farid, Matthew Cameron, and many others. Current projects include recording with jazz/Brazilian/flamenco/jazz manouche fusion group Blás Vasco (featuring renowned instrumentalists Lou Sparre, Daniel Johnson, and Noah Jarrett), playing bass for singer/songwriter Christina Ward, and providing woodwinds and percussion for prog-rock outfit Clockwise on Fire. His own current vessel for exploring songwriting is the eccentric, art-dance-rock group Our Bodies Themselves in which he plays guitar in addition to saxophone and flute. He graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College with a B.M. in composition, where he studied with Tania León and George Brunner. Additionally, he has studied composition with Amir Shpilman, Bill Kirchner, Charles Tolliver, and Knoel Scott of the Sun Ra Arkestra.
Rishy Mehrotra is a long-time Tabla disciple of Ustad Shafaat Khan, whose Tabla repertoire traces back to the royal courts of Rampur and the Farukhabad Gharana, with influence from several other Tabla Gharanas, or styles, of India. Rishy has shared the stage with Ustad Shafaat Khan on many occasions and has provided Tabla accompaniment for various other musicians of South Asia.