Haazri 2026: Four Masters Return as Students to Honour Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan

Mumbai’s Jio World Garden was filled to capacity on Saturday, 17 January, for Haazri 2026, an annual concert held on the barsi of the late Padma Vibhushan Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan. What unfolded over the evening was an act of remembrance, as four of his most celebrated students, A.R. Rahman, Hariharan, Sonu Nigam and Shaan, came together on stage for the first time.

Presented by Namrata Gupta Khan and Rabbani Mustafa Khan of NR Talent and Event Management, Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan’s daughter-in-law and son, Haazri marked its fourth edition this year. Conceived as a meeting point between classical discipline, Sufi devotion and popular song, the concert returned to the central idea that shaped Khan Sahab’s life and teaching: music as offering.

For Hariharan, the date itself carries weight. “January 17 is my Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan Sahab’s barsi… the day he left us… and it’s a sad day for me. Memories with him go through me on that day,” he said speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India ahead of the concert.

“That’s the day we pay our respects to him through a musical offering, and we always feel his presence at ‘Haazri’.” Calling it a continuation of the guru-shishya parampara, Hariharan reflected on the depth of that bond. “The Guru not only teaches you music but also many things about life… and the philosophy of life itself,” he said, recalling advice that reshaped his outlook. “We are all really lucky to be musicians because we get to practise music. That it’s a very special way of life.”

Rahman opened the evening with a Sufi set that set the tone for what followed, turning the vast outdoor venue into something closer to a shared prayer. He was later joined by members of the Mustafa family, including Murtuza, Qadir and Rabbani Mustafa Khan, and Ustad ji’s grandsons Faiz Mustafa Khan and Zain Mustafa, reinforcing the sense of lineage that ran through the night.

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Shaan returned to Haazri after several years away. “Haazri for me is and will always remain an intense emotion… a tribute, a day dedicated to my Guruji Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan,” he told THR India. “For the past 3 years I missed being a part of it. But wherever I was, I would perform a bandish or a ghazal dedicated to Ustaad ji.”

Sharing the stage again with his fellow disciples, he added, “This year I’m so glad and honoured to share stage with 3 of the greatest music icons and fellow Guru bhais.”

Shaan also spoke to the continuing relevance of live performance in an era dominated by AI and autotune technology. “Live performances are today the true test of vocal prowess,” he said. “On a day when the voice is not 100% there, it becomes very difficult for a singer to bring in his or her A game.” What carries singers through, he noted, is something no software can replicate. “The adrenaline and positive energies from the audience always work like magic.”

The final performances gave way to an onstage felicitation by Khan Sahab’s family, and Haazri closed as it began, with memory and reverence.