Mumbai, Oct 21 (PTI) Eminent singers Pankaj Udhas, Talat Aziz and Rekha Bhardwaj have joined their hands for a two-day online ghazal festival to raise funds for cancer and thalassemia patients, the organisers announced Thursday.The annual ‘Khazana – A Festival of Ghazals’, founded by Udhas, is a free musical concert, which will be held on Friday and Saturday.The festival will be streamed virtually on Hungama across the world, Pankaj Udhas YouTube and Facebook channels.‘Khazana – a Festival of Ghazals’ is a concept over 20 years old, which began as a platform for budding ghazal artists to showcase their talent to an audience that appreciates their musical talent, the organisers said in a press release.The proceeds from the concert in terms of donations will go to the charities to help the treatment of thalassemic children and cancer patients, they added.Udhas, who is the president of the Parents Association Thalassemic Unit Trust (PATUT), said he is grateful to all the artists and sponsors for their support.“I hope and I am also confident that this 20th year also the show will prove to be a resounding success as in the past,” Udhas said in a statement.“Every year 10,000 children with Thalassemia major are born in India, which constitutes ten percent of the total number in the world and one out of every eight carriers of Thalassemia worldwide lives in India. PATUT provides end-to-end solution on Thalassemia, including awareness, detection, prevention, test for matching of bone marrow of donor and donee, sponsoring bone marrow transplant of Thalassemia major children under ten years age and counselling,” the singer, popular for ghazals such as "Chitti Aayi Hai", "Aahista", and "Chandi Jaisa Rang", added.The festival will also feature the likes of Kavita Seth, Anup Jalota, Osman Mir, Sudeep Banerjee, Sanjeevani Bhelande, and young talents like Jazim Sharma and Meenal Jain, among others.The organisers along with the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) and Parent"s Association Thalassemic Unit Trust (PATUT) have appealed to music connoisseurs to donate for the cause. PTI KKP RDS RDS