In January this year, Hindustani semi-classical singer Rekha Surya, youngest disciple of Begum Akhtar, while paying tribute to Rashid Khan recollected her two-year stint at the Sangeet Research Academy (SRA), where they were batchmates, scholarship holders and budding artistes. “Even as a student, Rashid was considered a maestro by senior gurus at SRA. ‘Who are we to assess him, Rashid is our equal, not lesser than us,’ they had once commented in their weekly assessment,” Rekha recalls.
Samarthanam Trust for the disabled in association with the Academy of Music, Chowdiah Memorial Hall will be paying a musical tribute, Barsega Saawan, on June 14 in memory of Ustad Rashid Khan whose sudden passing at the age of 55, left the world of Indian classical music shocked. A panel discussion on Rashid Khan’s melodies would be followed by a jugalbandi by musicians Suma Sudhindra and Ustad Shafique Khan on the veena and sitar while vocalists Iman Das and Vaishali Srinivas will present the late Hindustani master’s favourite monsoon ragas. Ustad Rashid Khan, was the great grandson of Enayat Hussain Khan, founder of the Rampur-Sehaswan Gharana.
Rashid was born in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun but came to Kolkata with his family in 1980, when he was around 10 years old. Vaishali Srinivas| Photo Credit:Special Arrangement Hindustani vocalist and founder of Omkar Music Academy, Iman Das, who had closely interacted with Rashid Khan over the years and is part of the Barsega Sawan tribute c.
