DE – Raga CDs of the Months (11/2013): The legacy of Sultan Khan – The Future of Sarangi (short version)

The Legacy of Ustad Sultan Khan – The Future of Sarangi

Today’s edition of ‘Raga CDs of the Month’ @ Radio RaSA (and worldwide as webradio) directly is following our latest broadcasting:  “Celestial Music of 726 years – a review of 2011“.

The worldwide community of friends for Indian classical music had lost in 2011 nine outstanding maestros. Among them is Ustad Sultan Khan. He died of a kidney failure on Sunday afternoon, 27 November 2011 (Note: Ustad Sultan Khan had diabetis and was dialysis patient in the last four years.)

The fan base affectionately called Sultan Khan (1940-2011) the “Sultan of Sarangi“.

dates of broadcasting …

11th November 2013 – 04:00-04:58 p.m. EST | 10:00-10:58 p.m. CET @ Radio RaSA (CH)
(premiere: 15th January 2012 – 03:00-05:00 pm CET @ radio multicult.fm (Berlin))
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

Sarangi … Voice of 100 Colors.

The sarangi (derived from Sau-Rang: Voice of the 100 colors) is one of the string instruments of Indian classical music. The Sarangi is the Indian fiddle. The story lays back to the 13th century B.C. according to ancient writings where instruments had been described that have a similar structure as we know today by Sarangis, like the Pinaki Veena (lute).

The tuning of the clunky-looking instrument is an art in itself. The Sarangi body is hollowed out of a solid piece of wood and covered with goat skin as the resonance board, 39 strings are stretched. Of these are 35 resonance strings which are divided into four groups. 3-4 main strings (gut) are played with a horse hair stringed bow made of rosewood. Those who are concerned more about the history of the sarangi we recommend our show “The Sarangi Project – The Voice of 100 colors“.

You can re-read and re-listen this show (as all IMC shows) in our online archive  www.imcradio.net/onlinearchiv (see moderaton scripts: http://www.imcradio.net/scripts )

The Khan Family… 10 Generations with Sarangi.

Sultan Khan (1940-2011) & Sabir Khan (son)

Ustad Sultan Khan was initially trained by his father Gulab Khan. In 1951, Ustad Sultan Khan was 11 years old and presented himself 1st time on stage at the All-India Conference. The musicians clan Khan around Sultan Khan plays the sarangi currently in 10ter generation. Sabir Khan is the son of Sultan Khan and occurs in the footsteps of his father. Since the early 90s of last century Sabir Khan plays on stage. For a long time he accompanied his father in a duet. Sabir was trained by his father and his uncle Ustad Nasir Khan. Sabir’s cousin is Sarangi player, too. Dilshad Khan has presented himself to the European audience in June 2007 performing at the first Indian festival of Grenoble. And there is Sultan Khan’s nephew Imran Khan. Although Imran has become a sitar player by the wish of his father he was also trained by Sultan Khan.

Instrumental singing… Gayaki Ang (vocal style)

The peculiarity of Ustad Sultan Khan’s play on the Sarangi is the imitation of the singing of Indian classical music. Sultan Khan was influenced by the vocal styles of singing legend Ustad Amir Khan, Faiyaz Khan and Ghulam Ali Khan Bath. The special way of playing with instrumental interpretation of the voice is called “gayaki ang”… singing using an instrument. Ustad Imdad Khan (1848-1920) on the surbahar was among the first who introduced this technique on a stringed instrument.