Zila Khan

When Zila Khan starts singing, the audience listens in rapt attention. And those who're familiar with her father's music, swear that the essence of sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan is there in her voice and style of singing, specially in her sur lagane ka tariqa. Trained in both the classical and semi-classical styles of singing by her father, Zila was born in a family with formidable musical lineage - that goes back to seven generations of famed musicians of the Etawah Gharana. In it, she is the first woman who has taken up singing professionally. Zila has since acquired proficiency in singing musical forms such as the Khyaal, Thumri, Kajri, Qaul, Qalbana and Sufiyana Kalaam. Amongst the most well-known singers of the Sufi style in the Capital today, Zila often gets overwhelmed by her well-wishers' appreciation, "This kind of acceptability is humungus. However, when I sing I forget the lineage part and just let my soul take over." And when it does, her listeners are mesmerized. A few months ago, Delhi was witness to another avtaar of Zila - that of an actress. And she confesses to being very nervous before her first show. "Actually, for my music shows, I just go onto the stage, let my soul take over and forget everything else. Once it's over, I switch back. Here, there were dialogues too, so I was constantly worried, even though I'd written them down and pasted them in the wings - I was sacred of forgetting them." But, of course, her performances were perfect.