20 years of Khazana, the festival of ghazals

Ghazal maestro Pankaj Udhas on Khazana, the ghazal festival’s two-decade long journey

The year was 2001. Three friends and ghazal singers Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota and Talat Aziz were having an informal dinner. Thinking back to the 1980s, they remembered Khazana, the ghazal festival started by music label Universal that was discontinued after five years. That evening, the friends decided to Khazana, a platform in Mumbai where young ghazal singers could perform. Pankaj was already associated with Parents Association: Thalassemic Unit Trust (PATUT) in Mumbai and Cancer Patient’s Aid Association (CPAA). He suggested the concert be a fund-raiser for these two organisations. Since then Khazana — the Festival of Ghazals held around September has become an annual feature. Over the past four years, the platform has expanded outside of Mumbai, by way of the Khazana Artist Aloud Talent Hunt, where artists can send in entries and be shortlisted for the fund-raising performance. Besides being a platform for aspiring ghazal singers to perform, the initiative helps to unearth and nurture young talent from across the world. Pankaj cites the example of Jammu-based Aditya Langhe, the winner of Khazana in 2018 who launched his own album.