Tribute to Ghazal Queen

Vidya Shah and Danish Husain come together to remember the legendary Begum Akhtar “Mohabbat Karne Wale Kum Na Honge Teri Mehfil Me Lekin Hum Na Honge” — people continue to revere Begum Akhtar for her ghazals years after her death. A pioneer in the field of light classical music, she helped popularise the traditional form of thumri and ghazal gayaki and took it to the concert level all over India.

Well-known Indian vocalist Vidya Shah, a student of the Begum’s senior most disciple, Shanti Hiranand has conceived and produced a tribute to the icon of Indian music, Begum Akhtar. In collaboration with the actor/Qissebaaz, Danish Husain, the two bring alive the life and times of the Diva, of Awadh, of Lucknow, through a music performance and rare anecdotes from the life of Begum, accompanied by Ghulam Ali on the Sarangi, Prakash Thakur on the table and Badlu Khan on the harmonium.

The performance comes with rich anecdotes, in beautiful Urdu and songs – Ghazals, Dadra and films songs that were made popular by Akhtari. The event – ‘Tribute to Begum Akhtar’ will be presented by the non-profit organisation ‘Art for Causes’ on August 12 at Taj Krishna, Hyderabad.

The objective of AFC is to promote art and raise funds to support significant social causes such as health care and education for the under privileged. As a part of the event a few paintings and photographs will be displayed at the venue and an e-catalogue will be sent to people who register with info@artforcauses.com.

Some of the paintings and multi-media prints on display at the venue that have been specially created for the event, by the AFC Founder Amita Talwar are an unusual combination of photographs and paintings merged together.