Rashid Khan dedicates Padma Bhushan to people of Bengal

Kolkata, Jan 25 (IANS) Buoyed by the Padma Bhushan award bestowed on him Friday, classical vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan Friday dedicated it to the people of West Bengal “for the love they have showered on me all these years”.

Rashid Khan said he got the happy news from his daughters. “I could not believe it at first,” said the 46-year-old Hindustani music excponent belonging to the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana.

The Ustad was earlier conferred the Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in 2006.

“West Bengal has given me lot of love. People of the state have showered me with their affextion. I also love them a lot. This is an award not to me, but to the state and its people. I dedicate the award to them,” said Rashid Khan, the great grandson of Rampur-Sahaswan gharana founder Inayat Hussain Khan.

Born at Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, Rashid Khan accompanied his first guru and maternal grand-uncle Nissar Hussain Khan to Kolkata where he joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy.

IANS 2013-01-25 23:28:06