Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan wows US business; gets standing ovation

Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Ayaan and Amaan enthralled captains of Indian and US industry gathered here for the Global India Summit with a virtuoso performance.

A cultural evening organised here Tuesday by the US India Business Council, an advocacy organization of US companies investing in India and global Indian companies, to mark its 32nd anniversary began with Khan dilating on the "cultural ties that bind" India.

The Khans, who were accompanied on the tabla by Sandeep Das, started with a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi with a rendering of his favourite hymns "Vaishnav Janato" and "Ram Dhun".

This was followed by a lyrical interpretation of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's well known song, "Ekla Chalo Re". The poet, Amjad Ali said, had taken several liberties as was the wont of a genius in basing his song on Bhatiali folk music from West Bengal.

Each item was greeted by a round of prolonged applause, but what brought the house down was a rendering of Raga Malkaus, traditional pentatonic night raga. It was the kind of music, Amjad Ali said, that he could play by himself for the whole night.

Then as the music reached a crescendo, the audience gave a standing ovation to the maestro and his team. Kalpana Sen, wife of Indian ambassador to the US, Ronen Sen, presented bouquets to the artistes.

Sarod, as Amjad Ali explained, is an Indian classical music instrument which originates from the Senya rebab, an Indo-Persian instrument played in India in the 16th-19th centuries.

Indo-Asian News Service