Sultan of sarangi : Sultan Khan

music sample
raga-tala-( maand)

http://www.musicalnirvana.com/li3zab37xyfr4vj7/Sultan%20Khan %20-%20Maand.wma

In November 1974, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar collaborated with some of the greatest Indian musicians of this century on an American concert tour. During their stay in San Francisco, the Indian performers were invited to do an informal concert at The Stone House, a granite room in Fairfax, California. This recording is a document of that event, featuring Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi. The sarangi is a bowed, stringed instrument with a highly vocal sound and a limited number of able masters.

tracks

http://www.rykodisc.com/RykoInternal/DatabaseSupport/RealAud io/301_1.ram

Krishna Das & Sultan Khan

Drop Of The Ocean ( sample)

http://www.magicmusic.de/media/5/10069.ram

will update 😕
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SULTAN OF SARANGI
IS ON A SONG

by

Avinash Calla

Ustad Sultan Khan

At an age when most people call it a day, Ustad Sultan Khan is busy creating magic with his Sarangi. Life has dealt such a splendid deal for the maestro after his super hit Piya Basanti Re that he is finding it hard to divide his time between live performances, singing for films and concentrating on his next album.

" Allah has showered his blessings on me. I've trained only as a sarangi player but people have now starting recognizing me as a singer as well. I don't do riyaz. I've just been lucky that people have appreciated my efforts."

For a man who counts among his fans names like Prince Charles, George Michael, Goldie Hawn and has recorded or performed with artists like Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Madonna, and Duran Duran, the 64-year-old Ustad Sultan Khan certainly makes light his considerable musical achievements.

One of the greatest sarangi players India has ever produced, the Ustad is a down-to-earth man. Watching him in a crumpled kurta-lungi sitting on an equally crumpled bedsheet, it is well nigh hard to imagine that he is the same man who along with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar was one of the three star attractions of the celebrated 1974 Dark Horse World Tour, and that he has composed and recorded music for films like Gandhi and In Custody.

Though his father Ustad Gulab Khan and grandfather Ustad Azim Khan were noted sarangiyas and vocalists of their time, Sultan Khan remained primarily an instrumentalist till a few years ago when filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali changed his life forever.

" Sanjay came to me and urged me to sing Albela Sanam Ayo Re in his film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. What followed was his album Piya Basanti. And since then, as the clich goes, there's been no looking back. He---and the film industry---discovered his amazing singing talent. In a flash, he had stepped out of the hallowed domain of classical music into the realm of popular songs and scaled the heights here as well.

Which explains why at an age when most people call it a day, Ustad Sultan Khan is busy creating magic both with his Sarangi and his singing. Life's dealt such a splendid deal for the maestro after his super hit Piya Basanti Re that he is finding it hard to divide his time between live performances, background singing and concentrating on his next album.

He proudly tells you he ranks amongst the most sought after, highest paid and supremely talented singers in Bollywood and has rendered songs in films like Paanch, Gangajal and the recent Maqbool. Now the maestro is all set to release his second album and expects it to do as well as his first gangbuster hit Piya Basanti.

" After Piya Basanti I was flooded with offers and the music companies started queuing outside my house virtually giving me blank cheque offers and asking me to cut another album. But money has seldom lured me. I sing from my soul and I sing only when something stirs me," says the Ustad conscious of the fact that in India he has a lesser following for his saaz than his awaaz.

A recipient of numerous musical awards, including a two-time Sangeet Natya Academy Award, and the Gold Medal from the Maharashtra government; he has also received the 1998 American Academy of Artists Awards.

" Awards and rewards are all a part of life. For me the greatest reward is the applause of people who appreciate my music," says the Ustad who traces the genesis of his singing to his taleem as a sarangiya in Indore under the tutelage of his father from whom he learnt the gamaks (grace notes) and intricate taans (melodic patterns).

Music indeed runs in his veins and besides his celebrated father and grandfather he traces back his lineage to eight generations of court musicians in the then princely state of Jodhpur. " I am thankful to Allah to have put me to such a talented family."

Later in life Ustad Sultan Khan learnt the sarangi from such legendary names as Pandit Gopal Mishra of Benaras, Ustad Sageeruddin Khan of Calcutta, Ustad Bade Sabri Khan of Ambala, Ustad Shakoor Khan and Haji Ghulam Sabir Khan of Kanpur and the greatest of them all, Pandit Ram Narayan.

" Very few people know that the sarangi traces its origin to Ravana. Being a great worshipper of Lord Shiva, Ravana is said to have developed this instrument with strings taken from his own veins to sing hymns in praise of Lord Shiva," informs the Ustad who along with Pandit Ram Narayan, is credited with bringing sarangi to the fore as a classical solo instrument.

But, he laments, that the sarangi is losing its appeal. That's because it is an ustadon ka instrument. " It doesn't have any fixed pardas like the sitar and therefore it is difficult to pick up. My father was very much against me becoming a sarangiya and would often tell me that I'll starve if I take it up as a career. At least for the survival of the sarangi I hope I can prove him wrong. I would like to re-introduce the sarangi in film music as well."

When he sang his first song in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, the Ustad was almost 60. Not many thought he would go beyond being a one-film wonder. Today he is one of the highest paid background singers and his new song Dheemo Re for Maqbool is already a huge hit. Apart from that he is also working on his second album.

He attributes his own success in popular music to his first album, Piya Basanti Re, a love ballad with classical overtones and a stunning video. Does he not feel it is a comedown for a musician of his stature to sing film songs and cut romantic albums.

Ustad Sultan Khan grimaces. " I don't see any distinction between the two forms of music. That's the speciality of Indian music. It teaches us to improvise, to go from one spectrum to another. No other music teaches you that. I want to experiment with different genres of music. There are so many flowers in the garden and each has a different fragrance. I can't say that I will smell just one and not any other."

Today after achieving towering heights the man hasn't lost his passion and zeal for music. " The day my passion dies and my sarangi fails to appeal to my audience I'll quit. I am alive as long I have the blessings of my listeners."

Originally posted by: Qwest

Thanks Didi love his music. Great post lot to know and learn from you on this thread.

Same here.I also like his music...😊 thanks.