Sitar teacher a performer, too

By Kristen Peterson

Friday, July 11, 2008 | 2 a.m.

It’s one thing to have a musical pedigree. It’s another to belong to a centuries-old Indian musical dynasty.

Shafaatullah Khan, the son of Imrat Khan and the nephew of Vilayat Khan, was singing classical Indian music before he could talk and studying sitar as a toddler. He studied tabla (hand drum) with Ibrihim Khan and eventually mastered the surbahar (bass sitar).

More recently Khan composed a sitar concerto for a symphony orchestra that has the orchestra performing a raga, an Indian song form. He performed this work last year at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia with the Mansfield University Symphony Orchestra.

The Hindustani music teacher is doing Vegas this weekend as part of the World Vibration Concert Series at Winchester Cultural Center. The program, in its third year, has grown from highlighting local world music talent to bringing in local talent’s masters. Khan will perform with Las Vegas residents and former students Bishr Jijazi on oud (lute), Sandio Thanki on tabla and Faruq Imtiaz on tanpura (drone sitar).

The group will perform Khan’s music based on the poetry of Persian philosopher Rumi. “It’s a very beautiful fusion of Indian and Middle Eastern music,” Khan says. The first half of the show will feature Khan on solo tabla. He will sing and recite poetry. He won’t be performing on the surbahar during this concert.

“Some of our musicians expressed a desire to have their masters come perform,” says Irma Wynants, who started the concert series despite the doubts of those who know how hard it is to get locals out of their homes and into cultural centers. “They want to bring in people from their homeland and share the culture with the community.”

Khan, who lives in a Philadelphia suburb, is the first in this year’s program. In August, Oscar Carrescia and his Trio Buenos Aires will perform with singer Liliana Dominguez and bandoneon player Coco Trivisonno. The Arivada Ramblers, whom Wynants tracked down at the Western Folklife Festival in Elko, play in September. Accordionist Pete Contino will perform zydeco in October.

Khan moved to the United States in the 1990s to teach at the University of Pennsylvania. He’s recorded with his father and uncle and worked with spiritual guru and pop culture phenom Deepak Chopra.

More recently he’s been in the news because of allegations made by a 16-year-old former student who accused Khan of sexual misconduct. That wasn’t known by staff at Winchester until this week. Khan, whose family’s dynasty relies on teaching new students as well as performing, says the charges are a “completely malicious lie.”

“I’m totally, totally innocent,” he says. “I’m looking forward to winning (the trial). I have total faith in God.”