Riffat Sultana channels the musical wisdom of 500 years and eleven generations of master musicians in her family in India and Pakistan. But in all those years, she is the first woman in her family to sing in public. For a Muslim woman in a traditional country, such a career simply was not appropriate. Perhaps one reason her performances today have such overwhelming emotional power is that she sings for all the woman in her distinguished family who never had that chance before.
Riffat performing in Rome, Italy
She is the daughter of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, a musical icon, one of the most respected classical singers in India and Pakistan. Riffat’s family represents a 500-year lineage of musicians hailing from the Sham Chaurasi Gharana (school of music). The Ali Khan family are direct descendents of two famed court musicians, Suraj (of the Sun) Khan and Chand (of the Moon) Khan, who performed Morning and Evening Ragas respectively for the artistically devoted Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great.
Riffat learned the nuances of her family’s musical tradition from her father and her brothers, all acclaimed singers in their own right. Her family background as well the countless other musical influences she absorbed growing up in Lahore, Pakistan have shaped Riffat into a unique artist worthy of distinction in the world music genre.
Riffat performing in Monterey
For Riffat, it took coming to America to free her musical soul, but now that she has, her amazing voice is being heard around the world, including a featured spot in the 2004 “We Are The Future” concert, produced by Quincy Jones in Rome, Italy. “Music is in my blood, my soul,” she says. “I saw my father wake up early in the morning and practice, my brothers sitting next to him, and me standing outside the room, so interested. I didn’t want to go to school; I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted to be like my brothers and learn music.”
Riffat with Richard
Riffat currently performs in a wide variet of musical configurations including her world-trance band SHABAZ. Riffat frequently performs with her trio, “Riffat Sultana and Party”, accompanied by Shiraz Ali Khan on 12 string guitar and Ferhan Najeeb Qureshi on tabla. Shiraz, Riffat’s husband, is also a student of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. Ferhan is a disciple of Ustad Tari Khan, one of the finest Tabla players performing today. The group performs a wide variety of traditional and modern material thrilling audiences of all types.
Riffat's Band
Riffat also collaborates and records with prominent Algerian DJ, Cheb I Sabbah. Cheb I had amazingly, had seen her father, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, perform in France in the 1960's. Sabbah recorded Khan and family in a mix of music for the dance floor. The 1996 release, Shri Durga, became one of the most successful DJ albums of the year, and introduced the music of the Ali Khan family to a whole new audience. Subsequently, the Ali Khan Band opened for Cheb I Sabbah at the Sound Factory in San Francisco, and word began to spread fast.
Riffat Sultana & Shiraz Ali Khan with Salar Nader, Cheb i Sabbah @ Devotion Pdx 08
Photo posted on Tribe by Jacques on Sunday, March 16, 2008
As she tours widely and prepares for her first release under her own name, Riffat Salamat Sultana is making her family, her country, and her ancestors proud, and bringing a truly spectacular voice and talent to the world stage.
Where doors were always closed to her, now they are opening everywhere, and Riffat has collaborated with singers and songwriters from all over the world. At last free to create and perform as she pleases,
Riffat now leads a unique, intimate acoustic ensemble featuring tabla, world percussion, and her husband Richard Michos on guitar. The Party, as she calls it, is the perfect vehicle to showcase one of the most passionate and exciting new voices in world music.
Riffat Sultana & Party pares her art down to its essentials, putting the emphasis on her rich, agile voice. Richard plays 12-string guitar, and musicians including Salar Nader on Tabla, and Manose Newa on Bansuri flute fill out the accompaniment, leaving Riffat free to shine as the star she is. The Party features family Sufi songs like “Jivey Lal,” a song in praise of Lal Shabaz Qalander, saint for Muslims and Hindus alike. They also play romantic ghazals like “Ulfat,” a song of heartbreak that laments, “My tears mix with the mud.”
Riffat performing in Rome, Italy
Riffat Sultana & Party
The acclaimed Pakistani classical-folk singer Riffat Sultana performs in a set steeped in a centuries-old family heritage,combines traditional Sufi music with Muslim and Hindu praise songs. Over the years Sultana has performed Punjabi folk, devotional Sufi songs, and classical music as well as ghazal, geet, and electronic and acoustic fusion. She is accompanied by Shiraz Ali Khan on 12-string guitar and Gurdeep Singh on tabla and dhole.
Growing up in Lahore, Pakistan, Sultana wasn’t allowed to learn the classical music her father and four brothers performed. After playing tambourine in her father’s band she decided to pursue singing in the West, eventually settling in the Bay Area. Since her arrival, Sultana has sang with her brother Sukhawat Ali Khan in his band – the Ali Khan Band, later named Shabaz – for which she wrote many of the world trance songs and renowned DJ Cheb i Sabbah used her singing on his 1996 breakthrough CD, “Shri Durga.”
~ Posted by novoscene on February 22, 2008
Riffat’s vocals have been recorded for numerous labels including Ark 21/Universal, Triloka/Mercury, Hearts of Space, City of Tribes, 6 Degrees and XDot25. She has worked with producers Narada Michael Walden and Miles Copeland.
Riffat is a fabulous and dynamic entertainer who is a able to
rock your party with popular Bhangra and Bollywood songs, as well as
her trademark ecstatic Sufi singing and beautiful Ghazal love songs that
will move your heart and soul as well as your feet.
Contact us NOW for BOOKING RIFFAT SULTANA
415-723-9659
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