Sukhawat Ali Khan returns to Bird & Beckett with an ensemble of musicians steeped in Sufi music and Sukhawat’s own family’s 600-year-old Hindustani classical musical tradition, the Sham Chorasi Gharana, best known to contemporary audiences worldwide from the work of his father and uncle, the brothers Salamat and Nazakat Ali Khan. The Sham Chorasi Gharana was established during the reign of Emperor Akbar of India.

Sukhawat’s training in both classical raga and Sufi Qawwali singing began at the age of seven under his father, legendary Pakistani/Indian vocalist Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. For three decades a San Francisco Bay Area resident, Sukhawat teaches this musical style and performs concerts for dance and world music lovers everywhere.

Sukhawat is a thoroughly modern world musician, with a unique ability to draw from traditional and contemporary musical forms that has helped him develop collaborations that are truly cross-cultural, beautifully demonstrated in the acclaimed group, Shabaz.

Sukhawat has performed at the Montreal, Monterey and Prospect Park jazz festivals, the Fillmore in San Francisco, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and many other major venues and music festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe. His vocal abilities have been used on other recordings as well, including the Disney film, “Hidalgo” (2004).

Sukhawat Ali Khan’s live shows with the Shukriya Ensemble showcase his incredible vocal and virtuoso harmonium skills. The Shukriya Ensemble creates an intensely danceable music, employing Punjabi-style tabla drums, backup vocals, hand percussion, electric bass and jazz trap set drums to bring Sukhawat’s vocals to the fore.