‘MORE COPY MASTERS, FEWER TRENDSETTERS’
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan says the explosion of content is keeping sarod players from creating original music
Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan laments the lack of originality in those playing the sarod these days, and says that the lure of gaining popularity without the hard yards is getting to performers.
“Since they have access to content and recordings, especially on YouTube, it’s easy for them to imitate any sarod player. So now, we have lots of copy masters in the country. The trendsetters are very, very rare,” the 72-yearold veteran musician says.
Sixth in the line of a family devoted to Indian classical music’s Senia Bangash Gharana, the 2001 Padma Vibhushan started performing at the age of six years. Trained by his father, Gwalior court musician Hafiz Ali Khan, he says he couldn’t think of doing anything other than playing the sarod, as its sound had a global appeal.
“It was my duty, my pleasure, my passion to carry on the family tradition,” he says about the musical legacy handed down to him. “I wanted to make the canvas much larger, much bigger, and be more expressive on the sarod,” he goes on to add.
The sarod virtuoso goes on to point out the differences between his learning days and the present day. “I didn’t have access to tape recorders because there was no money to buy them. There was no television — one could listen to music only through All India Radio,” he recalls, adding that he would listen to a programme on music airing every Saturday night.
His sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash are established and well-respected names in the sarod circuit. Teaching them was a big responsibility, but it wasn’t his completely decision to initiate them into classical music and the sarod. “They showed interest and positive signs, and then I shared everything with them,” he says. And once he had introduced the older one, Amaan, to music, Ayaan, too, followed in his footsteps.
The trio recently performed the well-known bhajan Vaishnav Jan Toh that Mahatma Gandhi held close to his heart, at a concert in the Capital recently. Khan says that his association with Gandhi goes back to the latter’s 125th birth anniversary, when he played an improvised ‘Baapu Cause’ raga in Paris. “In the current scenario, we need many Mahatma Gandhis in our country. We need his message of non-violence, his thoughts and his objectives. It’s sad that he was shot before completing his dream of making India a dreamland of non-violence,” Khan signs off.