Shafaatullah Khan
In the rich history of Indian classical music, Shafaatullah Khan is one of the rare talents to have attained simultaneous excellence in performing on three different instruments Sitar, Surbahar, & Tabla. This multidimensional musical repertoire, therefore, distinguishes him in his illustrious ancestry. Being a scion of one of the most respected and renowned families of musicians of India, Shafaatullah Khan represents the eighth generation in a family whose lineage can be traced back over 400 years to the golden age of the arts under the reign of the great Moghal Emperor Akbar of 16th century India.

He began his career at an early age on sitar and surbahar under the tutelage of his father Ustad Imrat Khan who along with his brother Ustad Vilayat Khan comprise two of the legendary maestros of India. Shafaatullah later developed a passion for the tabla and thence studied under the guidance of the respected Ustad Ibrahim Khan, a well known master of the most rare and ancient tabla compositions of the varying regions of India.

Shafaatullah debuted at the Kingslynn festival in England at the age of 11 which was opened by the Queen Mother. He has subsequently performed live worldwide for the last 2 decades at such prestigious venues as the Acropolis, Athens; Royal Albert Hall, London; The Great Hall of the Kremlin, Moscow; Lincoln Center, New York; Suntory Hall, Tokyo; and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. His television credits include a program shared with Ray Charles on Bio-Bannholf in Germany and several BBC and US programs.

His various recordings are available on Nimbus, Edelweiss, EMI, Lyrichord, and Music of the World labels, in addition to many others. Recently he released a series of three CDs entitled The Rhythms of Nature which were produced by Dr. Deepak Chopra. On these historic recordings, Shafaatullah performed on the sitar/surbahar, and accompanied himself on the tabla; a first in the history of Indian Classical Music.

On the Web: www.shafaatullahkhan.com

The Knickerbocker Theatre is located in downtown Holland at 86 East 8th Street.