Courtesy of CFA staffer Andrew Chatfield:
Riffat Sultana channels the musical wisdom of 500 years and eleven generations of master musicians from India and Pakistan, bringing a spectacular voice and talent to the world stage.”—Banning Eyre ’79, Afropop Worldwide
Sufi fusion singer Riffat Sultana broke boundaries in 1995 by becoming the first woman from her family’s musical lineage to perform in public. She is the daughter of the late Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, who is universally recognized as one of the finest Pakistani classical singers of his time. Ms. Sultana makes her New England debut at Wesleyan, accompanied by an ensemble that includes her brother Sukhawat Ali Khan on vocals and harmonium, guitarist Shiraz Ali Khan, Ghurdeep Singh on tabla, dholak and dhol (double-headed drums), Jay Gandhi on bansuri (bamboo flute), and very special guest Mitch Hyare, an internationally renowned dhol master.
Date: Friday, November 7 – tonight!
Time: 8:00pm – 10:00pm
Place: Crowell Concert Hall (CFA)
Cost: $22 general public; $19 senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff/alumni
More information after the jump.
Ms. Sultana will perform a program that will begin with classical repertoire, including traditional Punjabi folk, devotional Sufi songs, and Indian classical music, as well as ghazals and geets (traditional, romantic/poetic folk songs). The evening will then transition to the Sufi fusion music of Riffat Sultana and Party (Shabaz), where folk Pakistani-Indian music intersects with Western rhythms, electronic beats, and grooves.
Ms. Sultana has collaborated with Nile Rodgers, Quincy Jones, the Netherlands’ Metropole Orchestra and Indian singer Dhroeh Nankoe, Egyptian singer Hakim, Transglobal Underground, and the late DJ Cheb i Sabbah; and has shared the stage with Patti Austin, Lionel Loueke, Richard Bona, Michael Franti, and Ben Harper, among others.
There will be a pre-concert talk at 7:15pm.
A Crowell Concert Series event presented by the Music Department and the Center for the Arts, this event is also part of the Performing Arts Series, as well as “Muslim Women’s Voices at Wesleyan.” “Muslim Women’s Voices at Wesleyan” is part of the Creative Campus Initiative of the Center for the Arts, and is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters: Building Bridges: Campus Community Engagement Grants Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. Co-sponsored by the Hartford Seminary, the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut, and the Pakistani American Association of Connecticut.