Pracheen Kala Kendra, in their endeavour to promote the rich Indian classical music, presented Muneer Khatoon Begum at a special concert today held at the Kendra auditorium. An old associate of Begum Rasoolan Bai and Begum Akhtar, the 75-year-old Khatoon recreated the magic of olden melodies in a scintillating performance.
Begum Khatoon was equally versatile in the rendition of vocal classical music and the ghazals.
She began her concert with ‘Raga Basant’ in which she presented two compositions. She rendered her vilambit khayal composition (slow tempo) — “Aayi rut nave larian” followed by a drut bandish — “Adhi raat bole koyaliya” in ‘teen taal’ before doling out a Tarana.
With the quality of her voice, its rich timber, its energy and elegant movements along the three octaves, her expositions of the raga and careful unfolding of texture, brilliant ‘taans’ and different ‘layakaris’ kept the audience spellbound.
She belted out ghazals from Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Thumri as well as Kajri in a style of her ‘Kirana’ gharana. The requests poured in and she lived upto her stature of an eminent artist of the olden years.
She has performed in the city after a hiatus of 20 years when she took the centre stage with Parveen Sultana.
She made various performances in Pakistan and still performs extensively.
Khatoon was accompanied by Neeraj Gandhi on the harmonium while lively rhythm on the tabla was kept by Mehmood.
M.L. Koser, registrar of the Kendra, honoured the artistes.
