Renowned violinist Dr. N. Rajam will be bestowed with Jafferkhani Samman by Halim Academy of Sitar in Mumbai. The award will be presented during the annual music festival of Halim Sitar Academy on 4th January, 2020.
A professor of Music at Banaras Hindu University, Dr. Rajam had been awarded the 2012 Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour in the performing arts conferred by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama. She was also awarded Padmashri(1984) and Padmabhushan (2004) by the Govt. of India.
Khiraj will begin with a Sitar recitation by Shri Zunain Halim Khan followed by award presentation ceremony of Jafferkhani Samman and violin recital by Dr. N. Rajam.
Distinguished Tabla players Ustad Fazal Qureshi and Pandit Yogesh Samsi will accompany Shri Zunain Khan and Dr. Rajam respectively.
Jafferkhani Samman was established by Halim Academy of Sitar in the memory of its founder Padmabhushan Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan. Abdul Halim was born in 1927 in Jaora, Madhya Pradesh as the son of Jaffer Khan, a versatile vocalist, sitarist and beenkar. He belonged to the Beenkar Gharana of Indore and was an All India Radio artiste since the early 1940s. A few years before the Beatles met Pt. Ravi Shankar, in 1958, Khan collaborated with jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck. Brubeck who was in Bombay through the U.S. State Department-sponsored Jazz Ambassadors Program was impressed by the improvisation in Indian music and said that the experience accompanying Halim Jaffer Khan-led him to play in a different way. Brubeck says of that meeting, “We understood each other.” Khan also performed with the noted English classical guitarist Julian Bream in 1963.
Daring innovator and pioneer of the Jafferkhani Baaj in sitar playing, Padmabhushan Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan was an indelible part of India’s sitar trinity comprising Ustad Vilayat Khan and Pt. Ravi Shankar.
Since its inception, the Halim Academy of Sitar has taught students the musical discipline and the art of Sitar, and Jafferkhani Baaj. The academy has hosted annual concerts to showcase young talents. The Academy has invited luminaries from the Indian classical world to perform at its main stage events. These luminaries include Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pt. Jasraj, Smt. Zarine Sharma, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pt. Bhajan Sopori, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Dr. Ashwini Bhide & Shri Abhay Sopori. The academy is managed by Director Zunain Khan.
Khiraj will be held at Balgandharva Rangmandir, Bandra (W), Mumbai on Saturday, 4th Januar 2020 6.30 pm onwards and the entry is free for all music lovers.
*Source: Halim Academy of Sitar/ Wikipedia
