Khazana ghazal festival strikes a soulful chord

Held over two days, the 24th edition of ‘Khazana-A Festival Of Ghazals, reaffirmed why it still is one of most cherished music festivals.The festival that that has philanthropy at its heart, supports patients battling cancer and thalassemia, opened to a packed hall on Friday evening with an inauguration by Shahid Rafi, son of the legendary Mohammed Rafi.

It began with a tribute medley by many well-known singers including Sudeep Banerjee’s Chaundhvin Ka Chand and Mere Mehboob Tujhe Meri Mohabbat Ki Kasam, Pratibha Singh Baghel’s Ehsaan Tera Hoga Mujh Par, Anup Jalota’s Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya, Mahalakshmi Iyer's Tere Mere Sapne Ab, Barnali Chattopadhyay’s Humien Shaam Ka Khayal Aaya, Usman Mir’s Koi Sagar Dil Ko Behlata Nahin and Aamir Mir’s Din Dhal Jaye Hai.

The medley reached a crescendo with Rekha Bhardwaj’s rendition of Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho and then in the end all artistes sang along Rafi’s super hit Abhi Na Jao Chhod Kar that the audience joining in.Hariharan, who was among the audience joined Mahalakshmi when she sang Phool Hai Chand Hai during her solo set. Talking about this gahzal he shared an anecdote on Zakir Hussain saying, “Ek din, ZakirBhai ke saath hum yehi gaana gaa rahein they aur maine unse kaha, ‘Yeh jo sher gai, yeh aapke liye hai, and recited, ‘Uski qurbat mein ajab doori hai, Aadmi hoke khuda lagta hai.’”The festival featured many solo sets from stalwarts like Anup Jalota, Talat Aziz, Rekha Bhardwaj, Sudeep Banerjee, Usman Mir, Aamir Mir, Pandit Ajay Pohankar and Abhijit Pohankar. Day 2 culminated with a special tribute to table maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain by and ensemble of Rakesh Chaurasia on flute, Shikhar Naad Qureshi, Ojas Adhiya, and Sanjoy Das. Sharing an anecdote during his solo performance, Talat Aziz shared, “The very first time Pankaj, Anup and I got together for a ghazal concert it was in 1983 and it was here in this very hall.”