Indian Classical Music: Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's Sarod Concet September 26, 2004

~*~Association for India?s Development~*
presents
*~Sarod Maestro Amjad Ali Khan~*
&
Amaan Ali Bangash
Ayaan Ali Bangash
with
Sandeep Das on Tabla

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Sunday, September 26th 2004
4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
The Power Center
121 Fletcher Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

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Tickets: $15, $25, $30, $50, $100
Contact: Murali Nandula
734-709-7664
[email protected]
ticketmaster.com
or
734-763-TKTS

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Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is one of the most distinguished maestro in the world
of Indian classical music. Amjad Ali Khan, born on October 9th, 1945 at
Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, is the sixth-generation sarod player in his
illustrious family. His ancestors of famous musicians, from the Bangash
lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of music, has the distinction of
having developed and shaped the instrument 'Sarod' over several hundred
years from the ancient Rabab (an Iran Folk Instrument).

Amjad is the youngest son of Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan a musician to the royal
family of Gwalior who has received musical tuition from descendants or
followers of Miyan Tansen (c1520-1590), one of India?s most celebrated
singers and court musician to the great Mughal emperor Akbar. Taught by his
father, Amjad started playing the sarod at a very young age. He made an
early debut giving his first solo recital at the age of 12 in 1958. From
then on there was no looking back for the master. He had a special mastery
and love for the instrument that he gave a new and yet timeless
interpretation to it. Keeping to the tradition and yet being innovative, he
created many enchanting new ragas of his own. He composed raga
Priyadarshini and Kamalashree in memory of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
Some of the other melodies composed by him are Kiran Ranjani, Haripriya
Kanada, Shivanjali, Shyam Shri, Suhag Bhairav, Lalit Dhwani, Amiri Todi,
Jawahar Manjari, Bapukauns and so on and has cut many records and discs. He
composed a piece for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Yoshikazu Fukumora titled 'Tribute to Hong Kong', with guitarist Charley
Byrd, Violinist Igor Frolov, Suprano Glenda Simpson, Guitarist Barry Mason
and UK Cellist Matthew Barley.

Ustad has achieved immense popularity in India as well as abroad. He has
the distinction of being the first north Indian artist to have performed in
honour of Thyagaraja at the saint musician's Thiruvaiyur shrine. He has
traveled widely and performed in several international music festivals in
Pakistan, China, New Zealand, London, Rome, USA, Moscow, Germany, Japan
etc. A regular performer at the famous halls such as Carnegie Hall, Royal
Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Kennedy Center, Santury Hall (First
Indian performer), House of Commons, Theater Dela Ville, ESPLANADE in
Singapore, Mozart Hall in Frankfurt, Chicago Symphony Center, St. James
Palace and the Opera House in Australia, the master has received Hon'ry
Citizenship to the States of Texas, Massachusetts, Tennessee and the city
of Atlanta.

Amjad Ali Khan has won several titles and honours - the 'Padmashree' in
1975, the Sangeet Natak Academy award in1989, the Tansen Award in 1989,
Sarod Samrat, UNESCO Award in 1970, Unicef's National Ambassadorship, the
Padma Bhushan in 1991, the International Music Forum Award etc. and
Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of York, England, Delhi
University, the Vishva Bharti (Deshikottam) in Shantiniketan and 'Commander
of the order of Arts and letters' by the French Government. Two books
written on him are the 'World of Amjad Ali Khan' (1995) and 'Abba- God's
Greatest gift to us' by his sons Amaan and Ayaan in 2002.
In 1977, he founded the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Society which
organises music festivals in different parts of India. He has contributed
in propagating and creating music for children. In Gwalior, the family
house where Amjad Ali Khan was born, has been converted into Sarod Ghar
(the ?Home of the Sarod?) a teaching centre and museum of his family and
the sarod, with an impressive collection of instruments including his
ancestor?s rababs.

Ustad lives with his wife Subbalakshmi and two sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and
Ayaan Ali Bangash. His sons Aman and Ayan are promising sarod players
referred to as the 'coming masters'. They are the seventh generation in the
family to continue the Sarod tradition.

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The Association for India's Development (AID) is a non-profit organization
focusing on grassroots, holistic development in rural and urban India. For
more information about AID, please contact [email protected] or visit
www.aidindia.org