which way west? Sunday afternoon concert series.
Never a cover charge,  but your donations help us pay the musicians! $10 to $15 suggested for this date, but it’s totally your call.

Sunday, August 17th from 4:30-6:30 pm:
Vocalist and harmonium player Sukhawat Ali Khan brings in an ensemble with a second vocalist plus flute and tabla to perform music rooted in his family’s 500-year old Sham Chorasi tradition, shaped by his travels in today’s international, transcultural club and concert world.

Sukhawat’s father and uncle, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan and Nazakat Ali Khan, were the preeminent classical vocal artists in Pakistan throughout the 40s and 50s, extending the Sham Chorasi gharana tradition that had been passed down through many generations within the Ali Khan family — a tradition that continues in the work of Sukhawat, his sister Riffat Sultana, and several of their brothers who remain in Pakistan.  Sukhawat and Riffat both live and perform in the Bay Area, but also travel and perform internationally.

Sukhawat has said of his music, “Each song I do has classical thought behind it and I know how to sing it properly, but my style comes from my life too. I spent time in New York. I go to clubs. I like the hip hop beat, Latin, rave. … There’s a performing energy there that I also feel. It’s the same kind of energy a good Qawwali singer has, and we can really express it freely in America.”