Saeed Zafar Khan

Saeed Zafar Khan was born in a home where his cradle was literally surrounded by stalwarts of the Delhi gharana like the Ustad Chand Khan, Ustad Usman Khan, Ustad Hilal Ahmed Khan and Ustad Nasir Ahmed Khan (all Vocalists), Ustad Bundukhan (Sarangi Player), Zahoor Ahmed Khan (violinist) and Ustad Zafar Ahmed Khan (sitarist), the last being his father. We may, therefore, presume that instead of the usual lullabies, baby Saeed would hear Khayals and Gats and learned melody and rhythm before his mother–tongue. In such a concentrate of musical heredity and environment, it was but natural that Saeed should crystallize as a gem of a sitarist. Naturally too, his style blends tantrakari (instrumental virtuosity) with flashes of Delhi Gharana Gayaki (Vocalism).

Tunefulness, tonality, rhythmic patterns and raagdari (treatment of the raag) all go together to make Saeed Zafar Khan’s performances highly appealing. Top’ grade artist from A.I.R.and he has regaled audiences in numerous concerts both at home and abroad several times.

Tunefulness, tonality, rhythmic patterns and raagdari (treatment of the raag) all go together to make Saeed Zafar Khan’s performances highly appealing. Top’ grade artist from A.I.R.and he has regaled audiences in numerous concerts both at home and abroad several times.Earlier in the evening, Saeed Zafar Khan, a talented young artiste of the Dilli gharana, gave a sitar recital. He chose Yaman Kalyan, a most appealing evening raga, to begin with. After the detailed alap-jod-jhala he played a slow composition in the seven-beat Rupak tala followed by a medium tempo composition in Teen tala. Yaman is normally played with only tivra or sharp Madhyam, but the beauty of Yaman-Kalyan lies in the imaginative use of the other (shuddha) Madhyam, which Saeed used very sparingly. Its absence in the compositions was much more conspicuous, although he seems to be quite sound technically.