CLASSICAL INDIA
Sarod player Alam Khan to perform in Albuquerque, Santa Fe
Alam Khan has his hands full.
Not only did the sarod player recently release a new classical album, “Immersion,” but he’s a full-time teacher at the Ali Akbar College of Music in Marin County, Calif.
Oh, and he has an 11-month-old child, as well.
“It’s been a busy year,” he says in a recent interview. “I teach at my family’s music school, and when I’m not doing that, I’m performing and recording with my various solo projects. And then I’m a father. That’s my biggest role to date.”
Khan grew up with music in his life.
He is the son of legendary sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan.
Since his initial training into the Maihar Seni Gharana at the age of 7, Khan was blessed to learn and live in the traditional style of guru and student.
His father took the time to carefully craft and guide him to pursue an imaginative way of expressing the ragas passed down from the courts of Emperor Akbar by Mian Tansen in the 16th century.
“It’s second nature to me,” he say of the music. “I’ve been around it since I was born, and it’s not difficult. The main thing is that I pay attention to the music and perform it with the respect it deserves. I learned from probably the greatest player who lived. It’s really about my training and respecting the honor of my father. I get to use my own imagination with that and finding my voice within all of the pressures.”
In making “Immersion,” Khan says, the process was quick.
“It was pretty much the standard Indian classical album,” he says. “I went into the studio and recorded it as if I was doing a concert. It wasn’t a conceptual album. It was a standard traditional album with classical repertoire. I needed to get another album like this out, because it’s been a while since I did a classical album.”
Khan says his two shows in New Mexico will be traditional.
“I won’t perform any of my solo pieces,” he says. “The music is very calming, and that’s what the concerts will do. I believe that more people need to listen to sarod music, because it is relaxing. This is an opportunity for people to leave the world behind them and just be present with the music.”