The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

He was all of 6 years old, when Amjad Ali Khan gave his first recital of Sarod. It was the beginning of yet another glorious chapter in the history of Indian classical music. Taught by his father Haafiz Ali Khan, a musician to the royal family of Gwalior, Amjad Ali Khan was born to the illustrious Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School of music. Today he shoulders the sixth generation inheritance of this legendary lineage. After his debut, the career graph of this musical legend took the speed of light, and on its way the Indian classical music scene was witness to regular and scintillating bursts of Raga supernovas. And thus, the world saw the Sarod being given a new and yet timeless interpretation by Amjad Ali Khan. Khan is one of the few maestros who consider his audience to be the soul of his motivation.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan said about music, "There is no essential different between classical and popular music. Music is music. I want to communicate with the listener who finds Indian classical music remote."

The legendary Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan addressing this during his solo performance at Dhaka Club premises Thursday night. This was his fisrt visit to Dhaka in 30 years. Tanmay Bose and Fateh Singh Gangani accompanied him in the show.

Amjad Ali Khan, the master of Senia Bangash lineage, arrived in Dhaka yesterday along with his two fellow instrumentalists at the invitation of Dhaka Club Ltd.

"Classical music is the base and it will remain forever. He discussed the basic notes of music. There are 12 notes of music and all the music is basically created from them," he said before starting his performance.

He presented 'Sayeri' at first. Then presented others including his own composition 'Sound of Music.' Specialty of this composition is that he composed it when his son Aman was born and he also sacrificed it to his wife.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was born in 1946 in Gwalior. Amjad, a recipient of many national and international awards, also created some raagas, one of them has been named after his wife 'Subhalakshmi.'

Subhalakhsmi Khan, great exponent of Indian classical dance Bharatnatyam, could not come due to illness of her mother. Her two sons Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan are well known in the musical ambience.

More than 2,000 audiences gathered at the Dhaka Club premises and there was a pin drop silence during his performance.