An interesting feature of this year’s Khazana ghazal festival, held at the Trident Nariman Point, was the allotment of the slot for a new poet. Other highlights were the tributes to legendary singer Mohammed Rafi, whose centenary year is being observed, and Zakir Hussain, who passed away in December.
Ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas’s daughter Nayaab Udhas of the Event Co, which manages the festival, says her father always gave special importance to poets. She elaborates, “Whether it was Zameer Kazmi or Zafar Gorakhpuri, he always encouraged poets who wrote for him. Thus we thought it would be ideal to start a special category in our talent hunt contest.”
The poet category winner, Uday Divakar Pandey, was selected by the jury of Aalok Shrivastava and Ajay Sahab. The winners in the singers’ categories were selected by Jalota, Penaz Masani, Rekha Bhardwaj and Sudeep Banerji. The male winner was a tie between Saleem Raja and Fareed Ahmed Khan. The female winner was Hetvi Sethia, and the child’s category winner was Manaswi Pandey.
This was the 24th year of Khazana, started by Udhas, Talat Aziz and Anup Jalota, who were inspired by the earlier show of the same name organised by Universal Music. It’s been held at the Trident, barring two years when it went online during Covid, and 2023, when it shifted to Nehru Centre because of hotel renovation. The event raises funds for the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) and the Parents Association Thalassemic Unit Trust (Patut).
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L to R.. Nayaab, Pankaj, Farida, Reva |
Nayaab says she was in school when she saw her father, along with Aziz and Jalota, organise the early shows. At HR College, she became fond of planning events, and Udhas encouraged her to actively participate in organising the festival. She says, “I learnt a lot working with him. He would tell me what he would do, and what I should do. Slowly my sister Reva became involved in creating videos and promotional material.”
Many leading ghazal artistes have performed regularly at Khazana. Udhas passed away on February 26, 2024. Last year’s event was a tribute to him. This year too, artistes dedicated songs to him, with Sudeep Banerji singing Dukh Sukh Ek Sabka, Mahalakshmi Iyer presenting Aur Ahista Keejiye Baatein and Rakesh Chaurasia doing a short flute medley.
“Since she had sung with my father on the original Ahista, we wanted Mahalakshmi to be part of Khazana last year. But she was travelling, and she came this time. Though she’s been at the online sessions, this was her first at Trident, and hence it was like a debut.”
The other pair making their debut was of Gujarati singer Osman Mir and his son Aamir. Says Nayaab, “At their shows, one normally hears a mix of Gujarati songs, folk music and ghazals. This time they could dedicate the show to ghazals.”
Rakesh Chaurasia was slotted for a tribute to Zakir Hussain, with both of them winning a Grammy last year for the album As We Speak with banjo player Bela Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer. He began with raag Vachaspati, did the Pankaj Udhas medley and ended with the John McLaughlin composition Lotus Feet, one of Zakir’s favourites.
The Rafi tribute featured many of this year’s performers. Another special feature was the performance of classical maestro Pt Ajay Pohankar, with his son Abhijit on keyboards. He presented thumris, including the popular Baaghon Mein Pade Jhoole, rendered by Barkat Ali Khan and later Ghulam Ali. Other performers were Aziz, Jalota, Rekha Bhardwaj, Pratibha Singh Baghel and Kalpana Gandharv.
Nayaab says the Khazana Talent Hunt, which had its eighth edition in association with Hungama Artist Aloud, started with her father’s keenness to promote the younger generation of singers. She recalls, “We spoke to Neeraj Roy of Hungama who was very keen. The event got a very good response and by the following year we got over 500 entries including many from small towns and remote places. Last year, we introduced a special kids category.”
According to Nayaab, the talent hunt opens up a new world to fresh talent. She says, “Last year’s winner Atri Kotal is getting a lot of solo shows. A previous winner Aditya Langeh is from Jammu but moved to Mumbai where he is doing many concerts.”
With the silver jubilee of Khazana coming up next year, ghazal fans have already begun asking what the plans are. “It’s too early to say, but we will start thinking of ideas right away. We want to do something to take the ghazal genre forward,” she says.
