They should stick to what they are singing

The Hindu - Ludhiana, India

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Zila Khan, a sufi singer and daughter of legendary sitar maestro Vilayat Khan, today asked the upcoming pop singers not to sell their music albums by labeling them as 'sufi-pop' since 'sufiana' is altogether different type of music from others.

"The new singers just use one line of 'sufiana' music in their pop songs and try to sell them by giving them a tag of sufi-pop which is not a right thing to do. They should stick to what they are singing rather than mixing their songs with 'sufiana' style," Khan said while addressing the media persons in Ludhiana today.

Khan, who is the 7th generation of an unbroken line in 'Gharana' style, likes to sing authentic and oldest forms of 'sufiana' music during her performances in order to protect the age-old tradition from fading away.

Zila will also soon start a scholarship for encouraging young generation to learn classical music. "I do not really have the time to start an institution for classical music but I will surely start a scholarship for young people to learn 'Sitar'," she said.

[picture: Sitar, new, on sale at ebay-de]