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 al
