Amjad Ali Khan (Sarod)

Attended a concert of titled 'The Sarod  master: Amjad Ali Khan'. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (Sarod) was accompanied by Vijay Ghate (Tabla) and Sridhar Parthasarthy (Mridangam) on 25th March 2018 in Emirates Palace auditorium. This concert was part of Abu Dhabi festival 2018 presented and organized by ADMAF. I attended the concert with Jayant.

A beacon of cross cultural understanding, Abu Dhabi festival 2018 unites, empowers and inspires humanity. Each year Abu Dhabi festival brings audiences together to share unique experiences that testify to our shared humanity and deep bonds we share.

The word Sarod comes from Persian word Sarood which means melody. Sarod is a present day modification (made by Ustadji's ancestor) of the Rabab, a folk instrument from central Asia. The Sarod has a steel fingerboard and a belly covered with goat skin. Over this are placed 19 strings, 11 out of them are not played directly. The body is made of teak.

Amjad Ali Khan is sixth generation musician from Senia Bangash gharana. His sons continue the tradition. 

Concert started with a melody as homage and tribute to Sheikh Zayed, founding father of U.A.E. it was a composition played in Arab style and lasted for about 7 minutes.

He then presented Raag Durga (दुर्गा) in 16 beats. It is a very famous composition and lasted another 7 minutes.

Amir Khusru, 13th century Sufi poet, created 'Tarana (तराना)' a form of singing that does not require language or words. Ustadji presented two Taranas. First one in Raag Telang (तेलंग) in 9 1/2 beats. Second was in Raag Bahar (बहार) in 16 beats.

He then played a composition in Raag Darbari (दरबारी) in tritaal. It was followed by a folk based composition of Rabindranath Tagore, the very famous, 'Ekla chalo re (एकला चालो रे)'.

 He then played Melody in Raag Charukeshi (चारूकेशी). It comes from Carnatic music. It had Jugalbandi of Tabla and Mridangam. It also included Sawal-Jawab. Both of them displayed fine percussion. Parthasarathy was too good. Concert ended with a three way Jugalbandi and three way Sawal-Jawab.

Ustadji thanked Abu Dhabi government for agreeing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request to build a temple in Abu Dhabi.

Concert started 40 minutes late. It was a short concert that lasted about one hour without a break. 

Emirates Palace auditorium is a beautiful and spacious auditorium that seats around 800 to 900. It had excellent acoustics. However, volume of Purcussionists was on lower side. Photography was not allowed in the auditorium, so no photos of the program.

The concert was probably designed for non Indian audience (Although most of the audience was Indian) with short  compositions rather than traditional Bada Khyal and Chota Khyal. The build up,  the development,  the peeling of layers of Raag and it's rendition, aalap, jod, jhala was missing. 

So although it was a good performance, I did not feel content at the end of concert.

Entertainment rating 6.5/10.