Kadir Durvesh was proud of his Turkish ancestors – dancers, musicians and whirling dervishes. His surname Durvesh came from them.
Kadir’s troupe performed frequently at weddings around the country. The Shehnai is known traditionally as a wedding instrument because of its ability to produce sobbing sad tones as well as joyously happy ones.
His band included another four other musicians – Shankar Ganguly (harmonium), Kuljit Bhamra (tabla), Aref Durvesh (percussion) and Nawab Durvesh (second shehnai).
His son Aref later became a much sought-after tabla player performing with artists such as Nitin Sahwney and Susheela Rahman.