After Vilayat Khan's concert last night in Flint Center, the 78 year-old
maestro carried on a long, animated conversation about his extensive
experience with Western music.

He described his large collection of recordings, heavy on Beethoven,
Schubert, Mozart, etc., but he said, forcefully, that by far his favorite
Western composer was Bela Bartok, and that he's been in awe of the strength
and complexity of his music.  "Bartok must have had more than ten fingers,"
he said.

An American ko-tsuzumi player responded that his Kanze Kaikan teacher in
Tokyo had told him the same thing about Bartok.

Vilayat Khan also spoke about fusion - he's been a frequent participant
in such concerts, including Ravi Shankar (Mr.  Fusion).  Such works and
performances could be good or bad, he said, but personally, he prefers
to stay "within the box" - not stagnant and pedantically traditional,
but developing his playing from tradition as a living, personal style.

Janos Gereben/SF
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