Word: khans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Khan says he turned down the awards in a reaction against what he saw as an arbitrary process. "I asked them, 'On what basis is a person given an award--age, beauty, wealth? How can you judge the artist?' They couldn't answer...
...Khan's sheltered lifestyle prevented him from visiting the U.S. earlier. He has toured the Soviet Union, China, Europe and the Middle East, but Khan says he was afraid to come here because of what he had heard and seen through movies and television. He left American audiences would not be as receptive as those of other countries, and he did not want to leave the security of "staying in my own conditions...
...urgings of Khan's close friend, film producer Ismail Merchant, ultimately convinced him to come to the U.S. Merchant was helping Bloomingdale's department stores' president Marvin S. Traub '47 organize a series of Indian cultural events in the U.S., and Khan says, "I finally gave in this time because Ismail was so keen, and assured me that my whole family could come and that I could stay with families in quiet places...
...Khan says that during his first days in this country he spent much of his time reflecting on the differences between Eastern and Western cultures. He disapproves greatly of musicians who experiment with mixing the two, valuing tradition over innovation. Attempts to make Indian music more palatable to American audiences by doing such things as writing concertos for sitar or playing Indian music on the saxophone, strike him as a compromise. "I myself will never try to mix two colors to create a third," he says. "It is easy to do that, but it is harder to work with just...
Referring to one Western violinist who recorded his experiments with Indian music, Khan says, "When I listen to that great Western musician trying to play Eastern music, he sounds like a child. The Moonlight Sonata--I could not be able to play it even like a European child...