| Khan's ambitious temperament and artistic drive
to explore new musical horizons have led to an acclaimed musical encounter
with flamenco star Paco Pena. In his collaboration, entitled "Spirit and
Passion", Khan brings alive the ancient musical link which traces the
source of flamenco to the deserts of Rajasthan. This musical encounter
isn't so much a fusion, it's more a reunion of musical cousins after centuries
of separation. Indeed, sometime around the fifteenth century a large population
of nomadic people migrated from the North of India to Andalusia in Spain,
bringing with them the folk music of Rajasthan. On their journey westwards
their music collided with other indigenous cultures and by the time they
reached the Iberic Peninsula, a new art form called flamenco had emerged…
In his "Spirit and Passion" project Khan pays a tribute to the bohemian spirit of this gypsy culture in a fierce and sensual improvisation with extended time-signatures and modal structures shared by both Indian and Spanish tradition. London Time Out magazine described Khan's visionary project as following : " Investigating the Indo-Iberian interface has become a fruitful area of fusion, with many musicians exploring these links in their music. But -with all due respect to them- Khan's Spirit and Passion is a real meeting of heavyweights". Here Nishat abandons the controlled passion of the Indian classical ragas and enters a spellbinding world of "fiery fretwork, sublime string sonorities" (Evening Standard) and intense rhythmical counterpoint between cajones, heated hand-claps and tablas. Through the passionate atmosphere of these performances, Khan achieved moments of rare communication with his audience whose appetite for this music could often not be fulfilled. Nishat's premiere of his collaboration took place in a sold-out Royal Festival Hall in London in november 1999. Since then he has toured England and performed this work at the Festival of Milano, at the Piazza Duomo. The tremendous success of these concerts is leading to the realisation of a much awaited record and a world-tour is now also in progress. |