Depot48 Presents "Honar Productions and Depot48 present Mehfil-e Honär"

Wed, 06-Dec-2023 | 8:30 PM Onwards

VINAY DESAI
Santoor
Vinay is a direct disciple of the world renowned Santoor Maestro Padma Vibhusan Pandit Shivkumar Sharmaji. Initially, Vinay received knowledge in vocal/harmonium/tabla from Shafiq Rahman in his teens. After completing his college in both Pre-pharmaceutical science as well as Pre-Law in Delaware, Vinay sought out to learn Santoor in India. In 2011, Pandit Shivkumar Sharmaji guided Vinay to begin his training under Takahiro Arai and Kunal Gunjal before being accepted by Panditji himself. Vinay regularly performs throughout USA, including Hawaii, Argentina, Canada, The Bahamas, Australia, and India . He is known for his meditative and dynamic musical phrases. His devotion to the purity and the depth of Shivkumar Sharma's style comes forth in performance. Vinay continues to spread his Guru’s work not only through performances, but also teaching and lecturing at different places. The concert will begin with a meditative melodic improvisation that takes the listeners to a place of deep stillness. Once the mood of the raag is set and the ambience built, Zaheen will join Vinay in creating powerful rhythmic phrases that take the listeners on a melodic and rhythmic journey. The concert usually ends with a fast paced piece that enthralls the audience. Usually, this classical piece can last for about 1 hour and 15 minutes followed by a semi classical devotional piece. Vinay is known for his superlative melodic improvisations and sharp sense of rhythm. With Zaheen, they have an astonishing ability to embrace, dive into and reinterpret traditional music.

ZAHEEN KHAN
Tabla

Zaheen Khan, a promising Tabla player of the present era, belongs to the famous and one of the oldest school of Tabla playing known as "Ajraada Gharana". He was born on 9th December 1992 in a musician's family in New Delhi and groomed in the environment of Indian classical music. He is the son of Late Ustad Naeem Akhtar, a noted Ghazal singer.of India. But Zaheen has taken interest in percussion and has started learning Tabla at a very little age of four under the able guidance of his maternal grandfather, the legendary Tabla exponent of Ajraada Gharana, Ustad Hashmat Ali Khan. Now he is continuing his training from his maternal uncle internationally acclaimed Tabla Maestro Ustad Akram Khan, which is a matter of a great fortune and honour. This young Tabla player staged his debut performance at the tender age of seven years and after that he never looked back and established himself as a soloist and as well as an accompanying artist. He is successfully holding the tradition of Ajraada style of playing and he is the Ninth generation of this lineage.

Zaheen's Tabla speaks with the exact combination of Laya, Tala and melody. It is seen that when his fingers tap on the Tabla which executes the Bols with perfection and clarity, which shows the command on his instrument and the Riyaz (practice). He is already rich with the sense of Music which mesmerizes his audiences and holds them for long.

Zaheen has been awarded with 'Delhi Sate Scholarship' by the Sahitya Kala Parishad (Government of National Capital Territory) for his advanced training. He has performed in various prestigious festivals in all over India including Yuva Manch Society in Delhi and Harballabh Sangeet Sammelan, Jalandhar and many more. He has performed Tabla solo in All India Radio and Doordarshan, New Delhi and has also performed with the legendary Sitar Maestro and the famous Music Composer Ustad Rais khan in the parliament house, New Delhi in front of the distinguished audience. Zaheen has been honoured to perform with the legendary Bhajan exponent Pandit Anup Jalota "Padmashree awardee". He has also experienced and performed with Legendary Padma shri Pandit bhajan Sopori and Ustad Iqbal Ahmad khan Flute Meastro Pandit Rajender prasanna Pandit Ajay prasanna Shennai Pandit Ashwani Shankar Sanjeev Shankar Pandit Lokesh Anand shennai sitar maestro Pandit Gaurav Mazumdar ghazal samrat Ustad Ahmad Husain Ustad Mohd Husain various instruments like Sitar, Sarod, Violin, Hawaiian guitar, Sarangi, Santoor, Flute, Shehnai, Kathak dance and Vocal. He has been fortunate to perform in Khairagarh University with is grandfather Ustad Hashmat Ali Khan. According to him Tabla playing is "the art of his living".