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Sarangi

Classification	Chordophone
Related instruments
Esraj (India) Sarinda (India)

The sārangī (Hindi: सारंगी, Punjabi: ਸਰੰਗੀ, sarangī) is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition. Of all Indian instruments, it is said to most resemble the sound of the human voice – able to imitate vocal ornaments such as gamakas (shakes) and meend (sliding movements).

History[link]

Surjeet Singh tuning his Sarangi

There are different versions for the meaning and origins of sarangi but the most logical and widely accepted ones are that the word sarangi is derived from two Hindi words: sau (meaning hundred) and rang (meaning colour) hence meaning the instrument of 100 colours while the other one is that the word sarangi is combination of two sanskrit words: saar (summary) and ang (form, herein different styles of playing instrumental music for e.g. gayaki ang) hence meaning the instrument that can summarize every style of music or playing. Both the versions though point towards the same quality of sarangi, that it can play any type of repertoire of music and still sound beautiful.

The current form of sarangi is said to have originated from the traditional stringed and bowed instruments from Rajasthan which were further developed and amalgamated with Persian instruments that came along with the Muslim invasion in India.

Sarangi now enjoys the status of a solo classical instrument due to the single-handed efforts of Ram Narayan. There is a variation to the fingering technique that was used by Ram Narayan. It differs from the standard fingering as to when one shifts from the first finger (index) to the second finger (middle finger). By Ram Narayan's own admission it is a non-standard approach, and under any other circumstance we would dismiss this as being a somewhat idiosyncratic technique. However Ram Naryan is considered unequalled in the 20th century for his skill and influence over the entire field of sarangi.

Well known sarangi players include Bundu Khan, Mamman khan, Nathu Khan, Shakoor Khan, Sagiruddin Khan, Hanuman Prasad Mishra, Abdul Lateef Khan and Sultan Khan.

The repertoire of sarangi players is traditionally very closely related to vocal music. Nevertheless, a concert with a solo sarangi as the main item will probably include a full-scale raag presentation with an extensive alap (the unmeasured improvisatory development of the raga) in increasing intensity (alap-jor-jhala) and several compositions in increasing tempi called bandish. As such, it is on a par with other instrumental styles such as for sitar, sarod, and bansuri.

Sarangi music is often vocal music. It is rare to find a sarangi player who does not know the words of many classical compositions. The words are usually mentally present during performance, and performance almost always adheres to the conventions of vocal performance including the organisational structure, the types of elaboration, the tempo, the relationship between sound and silence, and the presentation of khyal and thumri compositions. The vocal quality of sarangi is in a quite separate category from, for instance, the so-called gayaki-ang of sitar which attempts to imitate the nuances of khyal while overall conforming to the structures and usually keeping to the gat compositions of instrumental music. (A gat is a composition set to a cyclic rhythm.)

The sarangi is also a traditional stringed musical instrument of Nepal, commonly played by the Gaine or Gandarbha ethnic group but the form and repertoire of sarangi is more towards the folk music as compared to the heavy and classical form of repertoire in India.

Structure[link]

A sarangi laid flat

Carved from a single block of tun (red cedar) wood, the sarangi has a box-like shape with three hollow chambers: pet (stomach), chaati (chest) and magaj (brain). It is usually around 2 feet (0.61 m) long and around 6 inches (150 mm) wide though it can vary as there are smaller as well as larger variant sarangis as well. The lower resonance chamber or pet is covered with parchment made out of goat skin on which a strip of thick leather is placed around the waist (and nailed on the back of the chamber) which supports the elephant-shaped bridge that is made of camel or buffalo bone usually (made of ivory or Barasingha bone originally but now that is rare due to the ban in India). The bridge in turn supports the huge pressure of approximately 35–37 sympathetic steel or brass strings and three main gut strings that pass through it. The three main playing strings – the comparatively thicker gut strings – are bowed with a heavy horsehair bow and "stopped" not with the finger-tips but with the nails, cuticles and surrounding flesh. (talcum powder is applied to the fingers as a lubricant). The neck has ivory/bone platforms on which the fingers slide. The remaining strings are resonance strings or tarabs (see: sympathetic strings), numbering up to around 35–37, divided into 4 "choirs" having two sets of pegs, one on the right and one on the top. On the inside is a chromatically tuned row of 15 tarabs and on the right a diatonic row of 9 tarabs each encompassing a full octave plus 1–3 extra notes above or below that. Both these sets of tarabs pass from the main bridge to the right side set of pegs through small holes in the chaati supported by hollow ivory/bone beads. Between these inner tarabs and on the either side of the main playing strings lie two more sets of longer tarabs, with 5–6 strings on the right set and 6–7 strings on the left set. They pass from the main bridge over to two small, flat and wide table like bridges through the additional bridge towards the second peg set on top of the instrument. These are tuned to the important tones (swaras) of the raga. A properly tuned sarangi will hum and buzz like a bee-hive, with tones played on any of the main strings eliciting echo-like resonances. A few sarangis use strings manufactured from the intestines of goats — these harken back to the days when rich musicians could afford such strings.

Players[link]

India and Pakistan[link]

• Navdip Singh Paras
• Chamkaur Singh Jalalabadi
• Abdul Latif Khan
• Bharat Bhushan Goswami
• Ahmed Khan (musician)
• Aruna Narayan Kalle
• Datararra Kazino
• Dattaramji Parwatkar
• Deepak Paramashivan (Bangalore)
• Dhruba Ghosh
• Farukh Latif Khan
• Faiyaz Khan (Bangalore)
• Ghulam Sabir Khan (Ambalewale)
• Ghulam Farid
• Gopal Mishra
• Harsh Narayan
• Ikram Khan
• Kamal Sabri
• Khalifa Hafizullah Khan
• Mouddin Khan
• M.A. Banne
• Murad Ali
• Ram Narayan
• Vasanti Shrikhande
• Rafiq Ahmed Khan
• Ramesh Mishra
• Sabri Khan
• Sarwar Hussain
• Shakur Khan
• sultan khan
• swami nirdosh swaruap dasji
• Kashyap Dave^[1]
• Vinod Pawar
• Sabir Khan
• Abubakar Javed
• Dilshad Khan
• Dr Taimur Khan
• Bundoo Khan
• Nathoo Khan
• Umrao Khan
• Ghulam Mohammad
• Nazim Ali Khan
• Hamid Hussain Khan
• Khawar Hussain
• Sharfuddin Khan
• Piroo Khan
• Mubarik Ali Khan
• Nabi Bakhsh
• Zohaib Hassan Khan
• Zahoori Khan
• Allah Rakha Khan
• Abdul Wahab Ch.

Nepal[link]

A bamboo sarangi from Nepal

• Parashuram Bhandari
• Jhalak Man Gandarbha
• Khim Bahadur Gandarba
• Tirtha Bahadur Gandarbha
• Hari Sharan Nepali
• Shyam Nepal
• Hiralal Gandarbha
• Rubin Gandarbha
• Diwas Magar
• Honimaya Gandharba (from Prabash, Palpa)

United Kingdom[link]

• Surjeet Singh
• Surinder Sandhu (Disciple of Ustad Sabri Khan)
• Harjider Singh Matharu (Disciple Of Ustad Sabri Khan and Kamal Sabri)

Makers[link]

• Masita (Meerut)
• Behra (Meerut)
• Rajesh Dhawan (Meerut)
• Raj Musicals (New Delhi)
• Krishna Gopal Manandhar (Nepal)

[edit] Modern performers who have used sarangi in compositions

• A. R. Rahman for the song "Tum Ko" performed by Kavita Krishnamurthy in the feature film Rockstar.
• "Yuvan Shankar Raja" for the song "Yogi theme in saarangi" in his 2009 film "Yogi", performed by "Ustad Sultan Khan".
• Kamal Sabri
• Aerosmith, sarangi parts performed by Ramesh Mishra (featured on the track "Taste of India" from the 1997 album Nine Lives)
• Surinder Sandhu, The Fictionist with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, SauRango Orchestra with Steve Vai and Cycles and Stories.
• Cheb i Sabbah
• Digital Bled
• Howard Shore (the Lothlórien portions of the score for The Fellowship of the Ring)
• Musafir, or Gypsies of Rajasthan
• Nitin Sawhney
• Robert Miles (on his 2001 album Organik)
• Secret Chiefs 3
• Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth
• Tabla Beat Science
• Tool (featured on the track "Reflection")
• Talvin Singh
• Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band (notably in the song White Bird on the Changing Horses album)
• Blind Melon's track Sleepyhouse from their debut album Blind Melon
• [ ustad shaheen parvez sarangi player
• Suhail Yusuf Khan from Delhi based Indian band Advaita

See also[link]

• Esraj
• Sarinda
• Hindustani music

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sarangis

• Sarangi Video by Nasir Khan
• Resham Firiri A popular Nepali folk music with a Sarangi and madal.
• Nicolas Magriel's Sarangi Site most informative, a veritable treasure of information and archives
• sarangi.info – downloadable sarangi and vocal music, including the integral of two important books, The Voice of the Sarangi, Joep Bor; The Sarangi, by Ram Narayan and Neil Sorrell
• The Sarangi – This article on sarangis includes pictures of an exquisitely crafted sarangi by Paul Martin.
• Sadarang Archives Gallery of Pakistani sarangi players
• Nepali Sarangi Video from YouTube

Three historic sarangi from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Sarangi, Gujarat, 19th century
• Sarangi, ca. 1900
• Sarangi, North India, late 19th century
• Autobiography of sarangi posted by paromita

Pankaj Mishra ( पंकज मिश्रा ) born 1969 in Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh (North India), is an Indian essayist and novelist. He is particularly notable for his book Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, a sociological study of small-town India, and his writing for the New York Review of Books.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree in commerce from Allahabad University before earning his Master of Arts degree in English literature at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.^[1] He was the Visiting Fellow for 2007-2008 at the Department of English, University College London, UK.

Writing career[link]

In 1992, he moved to Mashobra, a Himalayan village, where he began to contribute literary essays and reviews to The Indian Review of Books, The India Magazine, and the newspaper The Pioneer. His first book was Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (1995), a travelogue that described the social and cultural changes in India in the new context of globalization. His novel The Romantics (2000), an ironic tale of people longing for fulfillment in cultures other than their own, was published in eleven European languages and won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum award for first fiction. His recent book An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World (2004) mixes memoir, history, and philosophy while attempting to explore the Buddha's relevance to contemporary times. Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan and Beyond (2006), describes Mishra's travels through Kashmir, Bollywood, Afghanistan, Tibet, Nepal, and other parts of South and Central Asia.

In 2005, Mishra published an anthology of writing on India, India in Mind (Vintage). His writings have been anthologized in The Picador Book of Journeys (2000), The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature (2004), and Away: The Indian Writer as Expatriate (Penguin), among other titles. He has introduced new editions of Rudyard Kipling's Kim (Modern Library), E. M. Forster's A Passage to India (Penguin Classics), and J. G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur (NYRB Classics). He has also introduced two volumes of V. S. Naipaul's essays: The Writer and the World and Literary Occasions.

Mishra writes literary and political essays for the New York Times, the New York Review of Books, the Guardian, and the New Statesman, among other American, British, and Indian publications. His work has also appeared in The Boston Globe, Common Knowledge, the Financial Times, Granta, The Independent, the London Review of Books, n+1, The Nation, Outlook, Poetry, Time, the Times Literary Supplement, Travel + Leisure, and The Washington Post. He divides his time between London and India, and is presently working on a novel.^[2]

His book Temptations of the West: How to be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet and Beyond was reviewed by The Economist (1–7 July 2006 issue).

In 2008 he was one of the first authors to take part in the Palestine Festival of Literature. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2008.^[3]

• He also Honored with “Proud Past Alumni" in the list of 42 members, from "Allahabad University Alumni Association", NCR, Ghaziabad (Greater Noida) Chapter 2007-2008 registered under society act 1860 with registration no. 407/2000^[4].

Criticisms[link]

In a lecture Prof Jagdish Bhagwati had this to say in reference to Mishra's op-ed pieces in the New York Times: "Perhaps the most articulate critics are the ‘progressive’ novelists of India, chief among them Pankaj Mishra whom the op-ed page editors of the New York Times regularly and almost exclusively invite to write about the Indian economy, a privilege they do not seem to extend symmetrically to American novelists to give us their profound thoughts on the US economy!" He then said of Mishra's economic analysis "While economic analysis can often produce a yawning indifference, and Mishra’s narrative is by contrast eloquent and captivating, the latter is really fiction masquerading as non-fiction." ^[5]

Patrick French in response to Mishra's review ^[6] of French's book India: A Portrait(2010), suggested that his writing is aimed to please his readers in his new home, Britain: "Pankaj has obviously been on a long journey from his self-described origins—in what he calls a 'new, very poor and relatively inchoate Asian society'—to his present position at the heart of the British establishment, married to a cousin of the prime minister David Cameron. But he seems oddly resentful of the idea of social mobility for other Indians."^[7]

Personal life[link]

He is married to Mary Mount, a second cousin of British Prime Minister David Cameron, and he divides his time between Delhi, Shimla and London.^[8] His father-in-law is Ferdinand Mount, former head of Margaret Thatcher's policy unit. He has one daughter.

Bibliography[link]

Book reviews[link]

• "Impasse in India" The New York Review of Books 54/11 (28 June 2007) : 48-51 [reviews Martha C. Nussbaum, The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future]
• "Watch this man" London Review of Books, Vol.33 No. 21 (3 November 2011) [reviews Niall Ferguson, Civilisation: The West and the Rest]

Books[link]

• Temptations of the West: How to Be Modern in India, Pakistan, Tibet, and Beyond (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006)
• India in Mind, edited by Pankaj Mishra (Vintage Departures Original, 2005)
• A Passage to India, by E. M. Forster, edited by Pankaj Mishra (Penguin Classics, 2005)
• An End to Suffering: the Buddha in the World (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004)
• The Siege of Krishnapur, by J. G. Farrell; introduction by Pankaj Mishra (NYRB Books, 2004)
• Kim, by Rudyard Kipling; introduction by Pankaj Mishra (Random House Modern Library, 2004)
• The Romantics (UK Picador 1999; Anchor Books, 2001)
• Butter Chicken in Ludhiana: Travels in Small Town India (Viking Penguin, 1995)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Pankaj Mishra, resource website at Columbia University
• Philosopher King by Adam Goodheart—book review in New York Times
• "Pankaj Mishra, Intellectual and Spiritual Vagrant". An interview by Wendy Cheng at Loggernaut.
• Interview with Pankaj Mishra by Sarah Fay for "The Believer" 2007.
• [1]. Report by Pankaj Mishra regarding Kashmir on July 22, 2002 in the UK Guardian newspaper.
• of Pankaj Mishra and Arundhati Roy discussing "India in the World" at the Shanghai International Literary Festival

Reviews & articles

• Pankaj Mishra at The New York Review of Books
• Pankaj Mishra at The Guardian
• Pankaj Mishra at The New Yorker
• Pankaj Mishra at Outlook (magazine)
• Pankaj Mishra at Bloomberg L.P.

Ustad Vilayat Khan (Bengali: বিলায়েত খাঁ Bilaeet Khã; August 28, 1928 ^[1] – March 13, 2004) was one of India's well known sitar maestros.^[1] He recorded his first 78-RPM disc at the age of 8, and gave his last concert in 2004 at the age of 75.^[2][3]

Early life[link]

Vilayat Khan was born in Gauripur, British India to Enayat Khan, a sitar maestro.^[4] His family of musicians trace their pedigree back to the court musicians of the Mughals. His father, recognised as a leading sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) player of his time, as had been the grandfather, Imdad Khan, before him. He was taught in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani Gharana^[5] or Etawah Gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad Khan lived.

However, Enayat Khan died when Vilayat was only nine, so much of his education came from the rest of his family: his uncle, sitar and surbahar maestro Wahid Khan,^[6] his maternal grandfather, singer Bande Hassan Khan, and his mother, Bashiran Begum, who had studied the practice procedure of his forefathers. His uncle Zinde Hassan looked after his riyaz (practice). As a boy, Vilayat wanted to be a singer; but his mother, herself from a family of vocalists, felt he had a strong responsibility to bear the family torch as a sitar maestro.^[2]

Performing career[link]

Vilayat Khan performed at All bengal Music Conference, as his first concert, organized by Bhupen Ghosh in Kolkata with Ahmed Jan Thirakwa on tabla. His performance made headlines as "Electrifying Sitar" in Bombay next day of his concert organized by Vikramaditya Sangeet Parishad, Mumbai (1944). In the 1950s, Vilayat Khan worked closely with instrument makers, especially the famous sitar-makers Kanailal & Hiren Roy, to further develop the instrument. Also, he liked to perform without a tanpura drone, filling out the silence with strokes to his chikari strings.

Some ragas he would somewhat re-interpret (Bhankar, Jaijaivanti), others he invented himself (Enayatkhani Kanada, Sanjh Saravali, Kalavanti, Mand Bhairav), but he was first and foremost a traditional interpreter of grand, basic ragas such as Yaman, Shree, Todi, Darbari and Bhairavi.

When he died from lung cancer in 2004, Vilayat Khan had been recording for over 65 years, broadcasting on All-India Radio since almost as far back and been seen as a master (ustad) for 60. He had been touring outside India off and on for more than 50 years, and was probably the first Indian musician to play in England after independence (1951). In the 1990s, his recording career reached a climax of sorts with a series of ambitious CDs for India Archive Music in New York, some traditional, some controversial, some eccentric. Towards the end of his life, he also performed and recorded sporadically on the surbahar. He has performed duet concerts with maestros like Bismillah Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, brother Imrat Khan.

Khan composed and conducted the score for three feature films - Satyajit Ray's Jalsaghar in Bengali,^[7] Merchant-Ivory Productions' The Guru in English, and Madhusudan Kumar's Kadambari in Hindi. In addition to these, he also gave music for a little known documentary film in Bengali produced by Dr. Barin Roy.

Personal life[link]

The Imdad Khan family is of Rajput lineage ^[8]. The family is of Hindu origin and later converted to Islam. In an informal continuation of his rajput lineage Ustad Enayat Khan (father of Ustad Vilayat Khan) kept a Hindu name of Nath Singh. Ustad Vilayat Khan himself composed many bandishes using the pen name Nath Piya.

Vilayat Khan spent much of his life living in Calcutta. He was married twice. He had two children from his first marraige - Sufi singer Zila Khan^[9] and Yaman Khan. From his second marraige he had two sons, Shujaat (b. 1960)^[10] and Hidayat (b. 1975), both sitarists. He was survived also by his younger brother, Imrat Khan, the post-war star of the surbahar field. The brothers played celebrated duets in their youth, but had a severe falling-out and for years were not on speaking terms. His nephew Ustad Rais Khan is also a star sitar-player. Ustad Vilayat Khan took few disciples other than his sons; among the best-known are Kashinath Mukherjee (younger brother of film director Hrishikesh Mukherjee), Arvind Parikh, Kalyani Roy. Debashis Datta. Mrs. Lakshmi Seshan now a teacher of the instrument in her 80th year was a student of Vilayat Khan starting at the age of 12. The Maestro also gave sitar lessons to Big Jim Sullivan, the famous English session musician.^[11]

Ustad-e-Maa Zila Khan, the great Sufi singer from the Imdad Khani Gharana and daughter of Ustad Vilayat Khan’s was a formal student (gandabandh shahgird) and Ustad Vilayat Khan empowered her to also be a successor of this great Gharana. She is the first and only woman of this gharana who performs public concerts and her CD’s are very popular with the masses and the intellects alike.

He enjoyed horse-riding, pool playing, swimming and ballroom dancing. His successes made him rich, and though he grew more pious late in life, he used to drive sports cars and dress in haute couture, and also collected such various items as firearms, smoking pipes, antique European crockery, cut glass and chandeliers.

Controversy[link]

Fans and media alike liked to play up Vilayat Khan's rivalry with and animosity towards Ravi Shankar. However, in calmer moments Vilayat would admit there was not much to it. His animosity for the politics and institutions of India's cultural life was another matter. In 1964 and 1968, respectively, he was awarded the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards – India's fourth and third highest civilian honours for service to the nation – but refused to accept them, declaring the committee musically incompetent to judge him.

In January 2000, when he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, he again refused, going so far as to call it "an insult". This time, his criticism had a slightly different twist: he would not accept any award that other sitar players, his juniors and in his opinion less deserving, had been given before him. "If there is any award for sitar in India, I must get it first", he said, adding that "there has always been a story of wrong time, wrong person and wrong award in this country".^[3]

Among other honours he turned down was the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. For a while, he also boycotted All-India Radio. The only titles he accepted were the special decorations of "Bharat Sitar Samrat" by the Artistes Association of India and "Aftab-e-Sitar" (Sun of the Sitar) from President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

Footnotes[link]

^ He kept his childhood interest in vocal music all his life, often singing in concerts, and composed khyal bandishes using the pen name Nath Piya.

^ Sitar Maestro Vilayat Khan Refuses Padma Bhushan, The Hindu, February 7, 2000.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• The Autobiography of Ustad Vilayat Khan: Komal Gandhar, written with Sankarlal Bhattacharjee. Published by Sahityam. Kolkata.
• Hindustani Rag Sangeet Online, Patrick Moutal's Website. Audio and video archives of Vilayat Khan.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2009)

Sultan Khan
Sultan Khan in 2009
Background information
Born	15 April 1940 near Jaipur, Indian Empire[1]
Died	27 November 2011 (aged 71) Mumbai, India[2]
Genres	Hindustani classical music
Instruments	Sarangi
Associated acts	Tabla Beat Science, Zakir Hussain

Ustad Sultan Khan (15 April 1940 – 27 November 2011) was an Indian sarangi player and Classical vocalist belonging to Indore Gharana. He was one of the members of the Indian fusion group Tabla Beat Science, with Zakir Hussain and Bill Laswell. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor, in 2010.^[3][4]

Early life[link]

Sultan Khan was born near Jaipur in the princely state of Sikhar in the Indian Empire.^[1] He learned from his father Gulab Khan.^[5]

Career[link]

He started his career at the radio station Rajkot in Gujarat as a 20 year old boy. After having spent eight years in Rajkot very happily, he got a chance to play with Lata Mangeshkar during her visit to Rajkot. This proved a turning point for him. Thereafter he was transferred to the Mumbai radio station.Having joined the Mumbai radio he was not only deeply involved with the Mumbai classical music circuit but also with film industry music.^[6]

He gave his first performance at the All-India Conference at the age of eleven, and has performed on an international scale with Ravi Shankar on George Harrison's 1974 Dark Horse World Tour.^[7]

He has won numerous musical awards including, twice, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, also known as the President's Award, as well as the Gold Medalist Award of Maharashtra and the American Academy of Artists Award in 1998. In 1997 he was requested to perform at Prince Charles' 50th birthday celebrations.^{[citation needed]}

He has had the good fortune of accompanying all the great Maestros like Ustad Amir Khan, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Pt.Omkarnath Thakur, Ustad Nazakat ali-Salamat ali khan, Kishori Amonkar are the name to few. He is acknowledged both as a Sarangi player and a vocalist & has several albums to his credit.

He has taught music producers such as Sukshinder Shinda and Ram Gopal Varma (who provided the music for his film, Deyyam) to play the sarangi. He had many students, but few gandhabandha disciples are Ilaiyaraaja, Vishal Bhardwaj, Salim-Sulaiman, Gurdas Maan Sandesh Shandilya, Preeti Uttam, Anand Vyas, Ikram Khan)and Deeyah,^[8] a Norwegian born singer, and he performed on her debut album I Alt Slags Lys in 1992.^[9] He contributed vocals and sarangi to Gavin Harrison's 1998 solo album Sanity & Gravity. He sang "Albela Sajan Aayo Re..."along with Kavita Krishnamurthy and Shankar Mahadevan in the Hindi film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999. He has also given his voice in films like Maqbool, Kachche Dhaage, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Parzania, Jab We Met, Agni Varsha, Superstar, Rahul, Paanch, Mausam and more.

In 1984 oscar winning film “Gandhi” also featured his music and thereafter he recorded for other Hollywood films such as “Heat and Dust” (Merchant Ivory productions). In 1993 he performed along with Ustad Allah Rakha Khan and Ustad Zakir Hussain in one of the rooms at the House of Commons where eminent persons were in attendance to witness a rare musical performance at the seat of Government. It was this time whenhe became a regular artist for BBC Radio London. He was also interviewed for the BBC world service and also composed the musical track for the BBC 2 documentary “London Calling”(1997).

The association with Late Ismail Merchant further when Ustad Sultan Khan together with Ustad Zakir Hussain composed the soundtrack for the film “In Custody” and where the musical score adapted to suite a particular genre of the Urdu language. Thereafter Ustan Sultan Khan also composed musical score for another Merchant Ivory production, this time for Channel 4 in Britain, called “The Street Musician of Bombay”.

He has several albums to his credits and he has been applauded by for his performances by Madonna (1997). He also performed in a Sufi Music Festival at the White house in Washington, United States of America (1998).

Ustad Sultan Khan's album Piya Basanti was released in 2000 and its was the number one album of the year. Some of his other famous albums are Ustad & the Divas T-Series, Ustad Sultan Khan & his friends- Times Music, Shoonya - BMG, Bhoomi - Virgin and Pukaar- Sony Music with Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan etc..

Sultan Khan performed for the Tamil film Yogi. He played a solo sarangi for Yogi's theme and also for the song "Yaarodu Yaaro" from the same album.

Family[link]

His son Sabir Khan, who is his disciple and a Sarangi player. His brother Niyaz Ahmed Khan is a Sitar player. His nephews are Dilshad Khan is a Sarangi player,Imran Khan is a Sitar player and a music composer, Salamat Ali Khan is a Sitar player and Irfan Khan is also a Sitar player.
Outside the family he had many students including Ikram khan & Dr. Kashyap Dave.

Death[link]

Khan died on 27 November 2011 in Mumbai, Maharashtra India after a prolonged illness.^[2]

He was undergoing dialysis for the last four years and lost his speech in his last few days. He died on his way to the hospital. The funeral was held in his hometown of Jodhpur, Rajasthan on 28 November 2011. ^{[10][citation needed]}

References[link]

Sources[link]

• India TV News

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sultan Khan

• Sultan Khan at Allmusic
• Ustad Sultan Khan at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2009)

Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain in Konark Natya Mandap, Orissa, India 2012
Background information
Born	(1951-03-09) 9 March 1951 (age 61)
Origin	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Genres	Hindustani classical music, jazz fusion
Occupations	Tabla Maestro
Instruments	Tabla
Years active	1963–present
Labels	HMV
Website	www.zakirhussain.com

Zakir Hussain (Hindi: ज़ाकिर हुसैन, Urdu: ذاکِر حسین), (born 9 March 1951), is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.

Early life[link]

Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha.^[1] He attended St. Michael's High School in Mahim, and graduated from St Xaviers, Mumbai.^[2]

His younger brothers are noted percussionists, Taufiq Qureshi and Fazal Qureshi and Maral Qureshi.

Musical career[link]

Hussain was a child prodigy, and was touring by the age of twelve. He went to the United States in 1970, beginning his international career which includes more than 150 concert dates a year.^[3] In 1973, he appeared on George Harrison's Living in the Material World album. A prolific composer, he has received widespread recognition.

Hussain is a founding member of Bill Laswell's 'World Music Supergroup' Tabla Beat Science.^[4]

Hussain participates in the Silk Road collaborative musical project. [1] He teaches Tabla to advanced students in both San Francisco and Mumbai. Zakir participates in the Global Drum Project with percussionists from around the world.

In 1992, Hussain founded Moment! Records, which features original collaborations in the field of contemporary world music, as well as live concert performances by great masters of the classical music of India. The label presents his own world percussion ensemble, The Rhythm Experience, both North and South Indian classical recordings, Best of Shakti and the Masters of Percussion series. Moment Records’ 2006 release Golden Strings of the Sarode, with Aashish Khan and Zakir Hussain, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album category for that year.

John McLaughlin collaborations[link]

Hussain worked with John McLaughlin on several Indo-Jazz projects, beginning with their collaboration in the band Shakti (band) on the albums Shakti (1975 Columbia), A Handful of Beauty (1976 Columbia),and Natural Elements (1977 CBS). McLaughlin later appeared on Zakir's album Making Music. Twenty years later, they rejoined in the band Remember Shakti, recording the albums Remember Shakti (1999 Universal Records), The Believer (2000 Universal Records), Saturday Night in Bombay (2001 Universal Records), Live at 38th Montreux Jazz Festival (18 July 2004), and Live at Miles Davis Hall (8 July 2004). They also appeared in the DVD The Way of Beauty. Both bands performed live both in the U.S. and abroad as recently as 2008.^[5]

Mickey Hart collaborations[link]

Hussain has collaborated with Mickey Hart on many projects, beginning with Hart's first solo album Rolling Thunder, and including Diga, At The Edge, Planet Drum, Mickey Hart's Mystery Box, Supralingua, Spirit into Sound, and Global Drum Project. He has been part of several of his bands including the Diga Rhythm Band, Planet Drum, Bembe' Orishas, and the Global Drum Project. Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Chandan Sharma, Sonu Nigham. (2009) Mumbai Steadily These projects have brought him together with such masters of world percussion and music as Sikiru Adepoju, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Babatunde Olatunji, and Giovanni Hidalgo.

The first Planet Drum album, released in 1991 on the Rykodisc label, went on to earn the 1992 Grammy Award for Best World Music Album, the first Grammy ever awarded in this category.^[6][7] The Global Drum Project album and tour brought Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju, and Giovanni Hidalgo together again in a reunion sparked by the 15th anniversary of the ground-breaking album Planet Drum. The album Global Drum Project won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 51st Grammy Awards Ceremony held on 8 February 2009.^[8]

Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer collaborations[link]

When Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer were asked to compose a triple concerto by the Nashville Symphony, they both named Hussain as their first choice for the third member. The piece, titled The Melody of Rhythm; Concerto premiered on 9 September 2006 with Leonard Slatkin conducting the Nashville Symphony. The trio composed several more songs together, and included both the concerto and additional works on a CD released in 2009 entitled The Melody of Rhythm – Triple Concerto & Music for Trio (2009 E1 Music). On the recording, the orchestral parts are performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with Leonard Slatkin once again holding the baton. The liner notes indicate the trio has more projects in mind for the future.^[9]

Film career[link]

Hussain starred in the Merchant Ivory Film Heat and Dust in 1983, for which he also composed the score. He composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor for the Malayalam film Vanaprastham,^[10] a 1999 Cannes Film Festival entry which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI Fest) in 1999, and won awards at 2000 Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey), 2000 Bombay International Film Festival (India), and 2000 National Film Awards (India). He has composed soundtracks for several movies, most notably In Custody and The Mystic Masseur by Ismail Merchant, and has played tabla on the soundtracks of Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha, and other films.^[11] He also composed the soundtrack of the Aparna Sen's Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, being himself the singer of some of the songs, for the first time in cinema.

He starred in several films specifically showcasing his musical performance both solo and with different bands, including the 1998 documentary "Zakir and His Friends",^[12] and the documentary "The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum" (2003 Sumantra Ghosal).^[13] He also performs in the DVDs The Rhythm Devils Concert Experience (2008), and The Way of Beauty (2006) with the band Remember Shakti.

Personal life[link]

Ustad Zakir Hussain performing at Konark, Orissa

Zakir Hussain married Antonia Minnecola, a Kathak dancer and teacher, who is also his manager.^[14]

Zakir Hussain has two daughters Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi. Anisa Qureshi graduated from UCLA and is trying her hand in video production and film making. The other daughter, Isabella is studying as a dance major in Manhattan.^[15]

He was named an Old Dominion Fellow by the Humanities Council at Princeton University, where he resided for the 2005–2006 semester as full professor in the music department.^[16] He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University.^[17]

Discography[link]

• Mysterium Tremendum (2012) – Mickey Hart Band
• Global Drum Project (2007) – Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Imran Hussain, Chandan Sharma Sikiru Adepoju, Giovanni Hidalgo – Shout Factory
• Soukha – V. Selvaganesh (with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Vikku, Shrinivas) – Naive
• Sangam (2006) – Jazz collaboration with bandleader Charles Lloyd.
• Punjabi Dhamar (2004)
• Raag Chandrakauns (2004)
• Live at 38th Montreux Jazz Festival (18 July 2004) – Remember Shakti
• Live at Miles Davis Hall (8 July 2004) – Remember Shakti
• Energy (2003)
• The Best of Mickey Hart: Over the Edge and Back (2002) – Mickey Hart
• Selects (2002)
• Live in San Francisco at Stern Grove (2002) – Tabla Beat Science
• Summit (2002) – George Brooks (Earth Brothers Music BMI)
• Golden Strings of the Sarode (2001) – Aashish Khan & Zakir Hussain
• Saturday Night in Bombay (2001) – Remember Shakti (Universal Records)
• Tala Matrix (2000) – Tabla Beat Science
• Spirit into Sound (2000) – Mickey Hart
• The Believer (2000) – Remember Shakti
• Remember Shakti (1999) – Remember Shakti
• And the Rhythm Experience (1998)
• Night Spinner (1998) – George Brooks (Moment Records)
• Supralingua (1998) – Mickey Hart
• Essence of Rhythm (1998)
• Magical Moments of Rhythm (1997)
• Kirwani (1997)
• The Elements – Space (1996)
• Mickey Hart's Mystery Box (1996) – Mickey Hart
• Maestro's Choice – Series Two (1995) – Sultan Khan & Zakir Hussain
• World Network Series, Vol. 1: India- Raga Purya Kalyan (1995) – Zakir Hussain & Shivkumar Sharma
• Raga Aberi (1995) – Shankar
• Golden Krithis Colours – (1994) – Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan
• Jog And Rageshri (1994)
• Ustad Amjad Ali Khan & Zakir Hussain (1994) – Amjad Ali Khan & Zakir Hussain
• Concert for Peace (1993) – Ravi Shankar
• Music of the Deserts (1993)
• Rag Madhuvanti / Rag Misra Tilang (1993) – Shivkumar Sharma
• Flights of Improvisation (1992)
• The One and Only (1992)
• Sangeet Sartaj (1992)
• Zakir Hussain and the Rhythm Experience (1992)
• Maestro's Choice Series One (1991) – Alla Rakha
• Planet Drum (1991) – Mickey Hart
• When Words Disappear (1991) – David Trasoff & Zakir Hussain
• At the Edge (1990) – Mickey Hart
• Venu (1989) – Hariprasad Chaurasia & Zakir Hussain
• Tabla Duet (1988) – Zakir Hussain & Alla Rakha
• Making Music (1987) with Jan Garbarek, John McLaughlin and Hariprasad Chaurasia
• Song for Everyone (1985) – L. Shankar
• Who's to Know (1980) – L. Shankar
• Morning Ragas (1979) with Vasant Rai
• Natural Elements (1977) – Shakti with John McLaughlin
• A Handful of Beauty (1976) – Shakti with John McLaughlin
• Diga (1976) – Diga Rhythm Band
• Shakti (1975) – Shakti with John McLaughlin
• Rolling Thunder (1972) – Mickey Hart
• Shanti (1971)
• Evening Ragas (1970) Vasant Rai
• Ustad Mohammad Omar: Virtuoso from Afghanistan (2002)- Zakir Hussain

Filmography[link]

• The Rhythm Devils Concert Experience (2008 – DVD) – The Rhythm Devils
• The Way of Beauty (2006 – DVD) – Remember Shakti
• The Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum (2003) Sumantra Ghosal)
• Talamanam Sound Clash – Further Adventures in Hype (2003 – DVD) – Tabla Beat Science
• Zakir and His Friends (1998)
• Heat and Dust (1983) Merchant Ivory Film
• Saaz

Soundtracks[link]

• One Dollar Curry (2003) – Vijay Singh (writer and filmmaker)
• Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) – Aparna Sen
• The Mystic Masseur (2001) – Ismail Merchant
• Vanaprastham (1999) – Shaji N. Karun
• Little Buddha (1993) – Bernardo Bertolucci
• In Custody (1993) – Ismail Merchant
• Apocalypse Now (1979) – Francis Coppola
• Saaz

Awards and accolades[link]

• Awarded the titles of Padma Shri in 1988, and Padma Bhushan in 2002^[18] , becoming the youngest percussionist to be awarded these titles, given to civilians of merit by the Indian government.
• Awarded the Indo-American Award in 1990 in recognition for his outstanding cultural contribution to relations between the United States and India.
• Presented with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1991 by the President of India, making him one of the youngest musicians to receive this recognition from India's governing cultural institute.
• In 1992 Planet Drum, an album co-created and produced by Hussain and Mickey Hart, was awarded the first-ever Grammy for Best World Music Album, the Downbeat Critics’ Poll for Best World Beat Album and the NARM Indie Best Seller Award for a World Music Recording.
• Recipient of the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States’ most prestigious honour for a master in the traditional arts, presented by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the United States Senate on 28 September 1999.^[19]
• In 2005, he was named an Old Dominion Fellow by the Humanities Council at Princeton University, where he resided for the 2005–2006 semester as full professor in the music department, teaching a survey course in Indian classical music and dance.
• Recipient of the prestigious Kalidas Samman in 2006, an award for artists of exceptional achievement, from the government of Madhya Pradesh.
• Golden Strings of the Sarode (Moment! Records 2006) with Aashish Khan and Zakir Hussain was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional World Music Album category in 2006.
• In 2007, readers’ polls from both Modern Drummer and Drum! magazines named Zakir Hussain Best World Music and Best World Beat Drummer respectively.
• On 8 February 2009 for 51st Grammy Awards, Zakir Hussain won the Grammy in the Contemporary World Music Album category for his collaborative album "Global Drum Project" along with Mickey Hart, Sikiru Adepoju & Giovanni Hidalgo.^[20]

Interview[link]

• Zakir Hussain Radio Interview OFFBEAT with Karishmeh – 103.2 Dublin City FM, Ireland, Zakir Hussain in conversation with Karishmeh Felfeli (June 2009, Dublin City FM)
• Masters of Percussion: An Interview with Zakir Hussain – with Douglas Heselgrave (The Music Box, Friday 12 September 2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zakir Hussain

• Zakir Hussain to perform Live in Pune
• Drummer World
• Moment Records
• Zakir Hussain at the Internet Movie Database
• Pennsylvania State University Page
• Zakir Hussain Tour Information @ Liveisbetter