Ustad Shujaat Khan remembers Ustad Vilayat Khan Sahib

Sitar maestro Shujaat Khan who is perhaps the greatest sitar player amongst the younger sitarists, is the son of legendary sitar player, the late Ustad Vilayat Khan. Shujaat’s earliest memories of his father are of sitting with him on stage and listening to him at the age of 3 or 4. 

“Abba had oiled curly hair and there he would be in his cream kurta, and we could actually feel the mesmerizing power of his music as he held the thousands that had come to hear him spellbound. 

I also remember the time we spent in the early morning,–our time alone, and that one hour that we spent together before every one else woke up. We would play musical games –he would ask me to sing after him and then tell me the notes that went into it. To this day I can immediately identify the notes behind any song in any language. I didn’t realize it then but he was teaching me so much in just a musical game. As I grew older he also made sure I knew how to be self reliant. He would get me to handle all the ticketing, hotel arrangements, lead him into an aircraft, and so on.”

Shujaat’s parents divorced when he was 11 and his two sisters and he stayed with his father. At 18 he walked out as his relationship with his father hit a turbulent patch and he was on his own from then on. The relationship had its ups and downs, but the two made their peace before Vilayat Khan passed away.

So today how much of his father does he see in himself?”

“A lot -the older I get the more my wife, kids and friends seem to be saying constantly-oh my god you are becoming like your father. I share my obsession for neatness, and small gadgets among many things with him. My father enjoyed the finer things of life and it’s the same with me-its not that I must have everything, I like, but I know how to appreciate it. Musically too, there are so many similarities in the way I play.”

Today when he looks back, what are the things that stand out in his mind? If he had to relive his life again, would he have stayed on with his father and been more patient?

“ On one hand, my father was a very generous and compassionate man, and yet I haven’t met very many human beings who are like the pendulum that he was. He had tremendous strength of character and compassion to feel the pain of others, especially the poor and the needy since he had seen tough times himself. He would see a student toiling away for hours and would go into the kitchen himself, make pistachio milk and serve the student. One day I had been practicing for hours and my fingers had been cut. He was a hard task master so he kept pushing me till I was in tears with the pain. Once I finished he got up and left the room. A little later, I went to his room to ask him a question related to music and found him sobbing. As a father it had been hard for him to see my pain, but as a teacher he had to push me.

He had very strong likes and dislikes and he would let go off very lucrative deals if he didn’t like someone. He loved with a passion and would not tolerate someone he didn’t like with equal intensity. He was very blunt and outspoken. What you saw as what you got.

I see that in myself. If some one puts me off, as a professional musician, I will do his concert, but I will very frankly tell the person there is no need to be friends. My father was one step ahead. He would refuse right away and tell the person why he was refusing then and there. Even if Bill Gates was standing outside with his billions, if he didn’t like him that was it.

At time he was really strange. One day he insisted I take him for a drive. So we get into this 75 thousand dollar BMW, he goes past four gas stations and then makes me go into this lane and asks me to fill the gas to the brim and then says okay let’s go home now. Later as I’m wondering what was the point behind this so called drive-he says smugly, I remembered on Tuesday this particular gas station has a discounted rate..see we saved 7 dollars! And I’m thinking-.you have all the money and cars in the world what difference will 5- 7 dollars make- but that was him-the king of idiosyncrasies!

Would I have lived differently? I don’t think so. Being the son of a legend like him was a blessing but also an incredibly huge burden. While I was with my father I was driving him around, sitting behind him at every concert and that was that. 

When I walked away, I became my own person and came into my own as a musician. As father and son, we had our clashes and both of us were to blame, but I cherish the legacy of music that he left me. I can also never take away from the fact that both as a person, and as a musician he was perhaps the greatest influence in my life.”

Source: http://www.nripulse.com/Archives/ReflectionsJune1606.htm