Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan
"Following a gorgeous classical Indian alap sung by Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan over a rumbling bass drone, the first 21 cells made for a splashy, variegated opening."
- New York Times

News

August 21, 2015

More reviews from Sruti Magazine and The Hindu

“Tracing his roots to a lineage of established Hindustani classical vocalists of repute, Mashkoor Ali Khan, an accomplished vocalist and guru from the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata, presented a variety of old and traditional bandishes at a concert in an intimate chamber-style format in Franmingham, Massachusetts, on the evening of 25 April. The concert was organized by Boston based Learnquest Academy.

Opening with a medium-tempo khayal in the meditative evening raga Pooriya Kalyan, he went on to present khayals in ragas Jhinjhoti, Shahana, Malkauns, Hameer-Bilawal, Khamaj-Bahar, Yaman, Bhoopali set to a variety of talas and concluded with a rendition in Patmanjari. Nitin Mitta on the the tabla and Rvi Torvi on the harmonium provided excellent support.

The unique aspect of the “baithak” concert was that Mashkoor Ali Khan created a warm atmosphere of shared joy between the performers and the listeners by conversing with them and giving them interesting insights into the compositions of Amir Khusro, Qawwal Bachchey, Kunwar Shyam and Bahadur Shah Zafar.”

Interview by Suchita Rao, June 2015 for Sruti Magazine

“After two young musicians began on a promising note on the first day of ITC SRA Mini Sangeet Sammelan here on Monday, the stage was left to ‘Bandish Nawaz’ Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan to give the real taste of Hindustani music to Mangalorean crowd, mostly consisting of students.The event has been organised at Town Hall in collaboration with the Sangeet Bharati Foundation of the city.

Beginning his concert on a moderate note in raag Abhogi Kanada, the unassuming Khan saheb built up his momentum in such a way that he took the rasikas along to the summit of joy.

A few minutes into the raaga with the cheez (composition) Daya Karo, he launched himself into his creative prowess singing the saragam(rendition the notes instead of the lyrics) in his own style.

The students, who not long ago showed lack of exposure to classical music, too had begun to understand him, it appeared. They began to applaud his improvisations. The maestro switched from one octave to another with ease. The dhrut (fast-paced rendition) with the composition Mangalada |Gomandariya too was well received. He moved on to Shahana Kanada with the composition Janeman jaaneman. He was accompanied on the harmonium by Narendra L. Nayak and on the tabla by Sanjay Adhikari. …” The Hindu

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