Ustad Ateeq Hussain Khan Bandanawazi started singing at the age of five and learnt various forms of classical singing such as dhrupad, khayal, thumri, bhajan, dadra and tarana, from his father. “In our family, we first learn Hindustani classical music as the base of everything else and then we can specialise in a style that we want, which usually is Qawwali,” he says.

Bandanawazi Qawwal led by Ateeq Hussain Khan (far right)