Farhan Rais Khan, was born on 5th. January 1981, in Mumbai, India to the illustrious Ustad Rais Khan and famous Bilqees Khannam.
His training in Sitar began at the tender age of 3 and played his first concert in Kolkatta at the Nasrul Islam concert at the age of 10, the concert was well attended with all the discerning stalwarts and “kansen” connoisseurs’ of music, his training and virtuosity, was noticed and the “star was born”, the tabloids declared.
Farhan Rais Khan, is the torch bearer of the Mewat or Mewati Gharana of Indore and the “beenkar baj gayaki ang” (singing style combined with rudra veena approach) this is the hallmark of this gharana, Ustad Zakir Hussain, always referred to late Rais Khanssab’s sitar recital as “singing sitar”, Farhan has imbibed the subtlties and delicate nuances to a large extent.
Rais Khansaab was a strict disciplinarian and arduous task master, used everything in the books to groom and grill Farhan, today Farhan is the foremost Sitarist in the world, his repertoire is ever expanding and encompasses all genres of music/recital, his recitals are a divine combination of the glorious past, steeped in history of the bygone era to the extremely trendy modern music. His Sitar ‘sings’, his Sitar gently ‘weeps’, his Sitar is blatantly ‘romantic and melancholic’, his Sitar is ‘joie de vivre’ / bubbling with joy, his father’s blessings are seen, felt and heard through his recitals.
His lineage or family tree dates back to the Royal Mughal courts.
Late Ustad Rais Khansaab’s father Ustad Mohammed Khansaab was a Surbahar player, he inculcated the 5 ‘suron ka meend’, despite his extensive meend work and gandhar-pancham drone strings his Alaapi, gatkari and gamakas are way different then any sitar player in the world.
Farhan Khan’s lineage is amongst the best in the sub-continent, he has the best of vocalist and instrumentalist in his blood-stream/genes, the masters Haddu and Hassu Khan, Bande Ali Khan, Nathan Khan, Babu Khan, Wazir Khan, Nazeer Khan, Murad Khan, Latif Khan, Majid Khan, Amanat Khan and Rajab Ali Khan of Dewas, Madhya Pradesh India.
Farhan Khan can be contacted for concerts.