A new album, a new idea

Had the Beatles not picked it up, would the sitar have enjoyed the popularity it does today?” innocuously asks the soft-spoken Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, whose lifelong effort has been to popularise the sarod (descendent of the Afghani rubab). “It hurts when the West believes all stringed music coming from this part of the world is that of the sitar.”

The maestro’s latest album ‘Sarod Symphony’, also featuring his sons Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, was released earlier this month by prime minister Manmohan Singh at Parliament House. Combining Indian sound with European symphony for the first time, an orchestra accompanies the sarod.

Earlier this year, Khan’s album ‘Ancient Sounds’, which was a collaboration with the Iraqi Oud player Rahim AlHaj, fetched him a Best Traditional World Music category nomination at the Grammys.

The Khans have lined up concerts in Rabindra Sadan in Kolkata, the US and a world tour to promote the new album.