A rare treat for city residents

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 24

It was a rare treat for Patialvis when they got to watch a Sufi-kathak performance of renowned kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi during the ongoing Patiala Heritage Festival. A visionary in performing arts and the founder and president of the Sufi Kathak Foundation, Chaturvedi is a pioneer of her dance.

The programme which was scheduled to be held at the historic Qila Mubarak was shifted to the Harpal Tiwana Centre for Performing Arts due to sudden rain. However, the rain failed to dampen the spirit of city residents, who turned out in huge numbers, to see the performances of Manjari Chaturvedi and Ustad Rashid Khan.

A force to reckon with, Chaturvedi has blazed her own path with her work in the past over-one-and-a-half decade on spiritual thought. She has performed ‘Dance of the Mystics’ in over 250 concerts across the world, setting a historical step in the field of performing arts through the creation of a completely new art form, which remains original and yet follows the precedents of mystical traditions that are nearly 700 years old. With the establishment of the Sufi Kathak Foundation, she has taken a leap further to support marginal artistes and provides research opportunities to scholars and students under the banner of the foundation.

When Chaturvedi took the stage at the Harpal Tiwana Centre for Performing Arts today, the audience was spellbound by the sheer energy of her performance.  Her artistic expressions were a delight for the audience.

Meanwhile, renowned Indian classical musician Ustad Rashid Khan, despite being a little unwell, left the audience awestruck. Khan, who was once described as one of the most notable torchbearers of the Hindustani classical tradition in the 21st Century by great maestro Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, belongs to the Rampur Sahaswan Khayal Gharana.

This gharana is closely related to the Gwalior gharana and Rashid Khan was trained in music by his maternal grand uncle Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan.

Born in Badaya, Uttar Pradesh, Rashid Khan had little interest in music when he was young. His uncle Ghulam Mustafa Khan was among the first to note his musical talents, and for some time trained him in Mumbai. However, he received his main training from Nissar Hussain Khan.

When Rashid Khan performed, the infusion of an emotional content into his melodic elaboration, earned huge praises from the listeners, who maintained pin-drop silence throughout his performance.

People turn up in large numbers

The programme, which was scheduled to be held at the historic Qila Mubarak, was shifted to the Harpal Tiwana Centre for Performing Arts due to rain. However, the rain failed to dampen the spirit of city residents, who turned out in huge numbers, to see the performances of Manjari Chaturvedi and Ustad Rashid Khan.