Karnataka - Hubli-Dharwad   

`Sangeetotsav' begins in Dharwad tomorrow

Staff Correspondent

Gangubai Hangal to inaugurate the festival

Bholanath Mishra and Rooparani Das Borah

HUBLI: It After the "Dharwad Utsav", the twin cities are set to host a three-day "Sangeetotsav" being organised in memory of sitar maestro Rahimath Khan to mark his 52nd anniversary here from Thursday.

Artists of national and international fame would be participating in the three-day music festival, which would be held at Dr. Mallikarjun Mansur Kalabhavan in Dharwad.

Sitar Ratna Samiti secretaries Raghavendra Ayi and Ramesh Desai and member Srinivas Joshi told presspersons that the festival would be inaugurated by Gangubai Hangal on Thursday at 6.15 p.m. Rajyotsava Award-winners Sadanand Kanawalli, T.V. Kabadi and Naganath Wodeyar would be felicitated on the occasion.

Ruparani Das Borah, a kathak exponent of Lucknow gharana from New Delhi, would give her performance on the inaugural day. A disciple of Surendra Shukla of Lucknow, she had performed in several national dance and music festivals, Mr. Ayi said.

The second day would see performances from Krishnaram Choudhary (Shahnai) of Allahabad, Bholanath Mishra of New Delhi, Vasant Kanakapur (Harmonium) of Dharwad and Rajendra Nakod of Bangalore (Tabla).

The festival would conclude with a nightlong music festival on Saturday, which would begin a 9.30 p.m. On the concluding day, there would be four vocal concerts from Faiyaz Ahmed Khan (Bangalore), Gauri Pathare (Mumbai), Kaivalya Kumar Gurav (Dharwad) and Alka Deo Muarulkar (Panaji). Sitar exponent Bale Khan (Dharwad) and Madan Mohan Upadhyay of Lucknow (tabla) would be performing on the concluding day, he said.

The Sangeetotsav was being held in association with the Department of Kannada and Culture and Karnataka Sangeet Natak Academy. The Department of Kannada and Culture had given an assistance of Rs. 75,000 for the festival, he added.

Born in 1863 to Gulaam Hussain Khan, a vocalist in the court of King of Bhavanagar, Rahimat Khan was the grandson of Madaar Baksh, a renowned vocalist and sitar player in the court of the king of Ratlam.

Having got early training in his family, Rahimat Khan then trained under the tutelage of Habib Khan, a noted sitar player in the court of King of Bhavanagar.

After having performed in various courts of different kings on invitation, Rahimat Khan came to Mysore to perform before Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore.

After having declined the offer of the Maharaja for becoming his court musician, Rahimat Khan made a brief stop over at Dharwad in 1912, on his return journey. But this made him to make Dharwad his home for the rest of his life.

It was in 1931 that Rahimat Khan founded "Bharatiya Sangeet Vidyalaya" to impart music education to all. The work started by Rahimat Khan was continued by his son Abdul Karim Khan and now by his grandson Bale Khan.

"Music was religion" for Rahimat Khan who always said: "Sur hi Iswhar". He died in 1954 and since then the annual music festival was being held on his death anniversary.

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