Sur Ka Safar Shehnai aur Tabla | An Evening with Ustad Abdullah Khan & Ustad Khursheed Hussain

About the Artists: Ustad Abdullah Khan Ustad Abdullah Khan belongs to the Saabvani gharana of Shehnai players from Sindh. He started learning Shehnai from his father, the late Ustad Haji Khan, at the age of 10 and later also came under the tutelage of his paternal uncle, Ustad Lakhaddino Khan. In order to further expand his musical horizons, his father also placed him under the tutelage of a famous Shehnai nawaz of Sindh, Ustad Zawaar Basant. After Ustad Basant’s passing, under the tutelage his younger brother Ustad Mohd. Moosa became his teacher. During the same period Ustad Abdullah Khan was also learning principle of music from Ustad Mohd, Yousuf Urfvikio and Ustad Maqbool Khan (a master of many instruments including the vichitra even or chitra even). Ustad Abdullah Khan started recording for Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad in 1972 and also started to appear on Pakistan Television Network from 1974 onwards. He has performed widely in live shows, including festivals such as All Pakistan Music Conference, and has recently recorded for Lahooti Live Sessions. In this performance he will be accompanied by Ustad Khursheed Hussain on tabla. Ustad Khursheed Hussain One of the few doyens of tabla that remain in Pakistan today, Ustad Khurshid Hussain hails from a family of musicians. His father, Mehboob Hussain, was a sarangi player and entrusted his friend, the great Ustad Habib Khan (also known as Baba Bibia Khan) to teach his son the art of playing tabla. Although Ustad Khurshid Hussain’s blood line is from the Ajrada Gharana, he learned tabla primarily from Ustad Habib Khan; a repository of all gharanas’ styles and compositions. Ustad Khurshid Hussain has worked with the Radio Pakistan and has performed live with some of the greatest musicians that Pakistan has witnessed including Ustad Kabir Khan, Ustad Sharif Khan Poonchwaley, Ustad Gulab Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, Ustad Rais Khan, Mehdi Hassan, Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanum, and Ustad Sajid Hussain, alongside being the accompanist of choice for visiting artistes from India. Ustad Khursheed Hussain is the recipient of the Pride of Performance Award in 2019 by the Government of Pakistan. He has also trained the first cohort of tabla players at Habib University, alongside being an instrumental figure in furthering the aim of the Habib University Center for South Asian Music. He has also been teaching tabla at T2F for the last ten years