Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan is one of the finest sitar players alive today. Known for dazzling virtuosity and innovative genius, he was born into the seventh generation of a family of illustrious sitar players, composers, and singers and studied from an early age with his father, grandfather, and other relatives. His global reputation as an awe-inspiring performer is complemented by another rare gift – his ability to spread his music as a dedicated and loving guru. Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan sums up his mastery of this most intricate art form with a profoundly simple philosophy: “Music is my life.”
The Khan family had been noted musicians for centuries when Ustad Imdad Khan, Shahid Parvez’s great-grandfather, founded the current Etawah or Imdadkhani gharana , adapting ornamental techniques and improvisational motifs from the ancient gwalior gharana of khyal vocal music to the sitar and its larger relative, the surbahar. Over the last century, the style was been further developed by other family members, of whom perhaps the best known is Ustad Vilayat Khan.
Shahid Parvez himself has continued to innovate within the style. As a young boy, he studied table as well as sitar and vocal music and has introduced innovative rhythmic motifs into a tradition that historically has relied heavily on vocal models. He is a Top Grade artist of All India Radio and a recipient of numerous national and international awards. He has performed at all of India’s major musical festivals in India and at festivals in the North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Australia. With numerous audio and video recordings and a distinguished performance career in India and around the world, he is widely recognized as one of the greatest sitar players of the world.
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Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
