Poonchwala • Sitar
deutsch
Ashraf Sharif Khan is the worthy son of the Sitar maestro Ustad Muhammad Sharif Khan Poonchwala of the famous Poonch Gharana who has been a contemporary musician of late Ustad Vilayat Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar.Ashraf has been a child prodigy and has shown his immense talent in playing the sitar at the age of ten. He has been brought up in the Guru Sishya / Ustad to student tradition, inheriting a musical tradition handed down from father to son.
Ashraf's music combines an astounding technical proficiency with perfection in musical expression. The melodic beauty of his style, accentuated by his dynamic rhythmic development and the virtuoso technique provide an unique style of his own. His music transcends regional boundaries, and is accessible to all.
His first performance at the age of ten left a lusty impression on the music lovers of Pakistan.
He has toured all over Pakistan extensively after that.
- In 1990, he received the Khwaja-Khurshid-Anwar Award and the Hazrat-Amir-Khusro Award.
- In 1992, he was chosen by the United States Information Agency to represent Pakistan at the International Sound Celebration Festival in Louisville, Kentucky(USA).
-
In 1997, he received the Colombo University KelaniyaAward(Sri Lanka).
During that time Ashraf has given numerous performances in the major cities of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Europe and the United States. -
In 1999, he performed at the prestigious Medina Festival of Tunis inTunisia, at Okinawa's
“Sugar Hall” in Japan, at “Symphony Space” at the Manhattan Broadway in New York, and at the “Cairo Opera” in Egypt.
Since then he has given numerous concerts in major cities of Europe and USA.
He also proved his genius in the jazz and world music field and has been appreciated widely by contemporary international musicians.