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Artist List:
Amampondo
Amjad Ali Khan
Asad Qizilbash
Bembeya Jazz
Chico Cesar
Clave Y Guaguanco
Eliza Carthy Big Band
Ensemble Kaboul
Jimmy Cliff
Julien Jacob
LoJo
Manecas Costa
Manu Dibango and
Ray Lema
Nitin Sawhney
Ojos de Brujo
Oumou Sangare
Pape and Cheikh
Samba Sunda
Sevara Nazarkhan
Sierra Maestra
Super Rail Band
Temple of Sound
Teofilo Chantre
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Profile:
Amjad Ali Khan
 
Some men of learning declare that there is no such thing as a 'musical' gene and that musical prowess cannot be passed down through the generations by physiological means alone. They obviously haven't heard the story of Mohammed Hashmi Khan Bangash, an Afghani horse-trader, who settled in India in the mid seventeenth century and created the Bangash dynasty of musicians.
Hashmi Khan played the rabab, a folksy plucked lute originally from Persia, but his various descendents gradually morphed this instrument into the sarod which is more suited to the complex melodies and note-play of classical Indian music.
Hashmi Khan's virtuosity was inherited by generations of revered musicians, many of whom were in the employ of the Maharajah of Gwailor and today it inhabits the dextrous fingers of his direct heir Amjad Ali Khan, a man who's name is synonymous with the sarod in the minds of all true Indian music cognoscenti. And to double underscore this incredible tale of musical inheritance, Amjad Ali Khan will be performing at WOMAD with his two sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, who are also both sarod maestros.
This teak instrument becomes a veritable magical mystery orchestra in the hands of a genius like Amjad Ali Khan, its multiple sympathetic strings soaking the slides and sustained notes of the ragas which he performs in rich multiple layers of sound.
Amjad Ali Khan has won so many awards, honours and accolades that the biggest mantelpiece in the world would collapse under their weight. He has played in every major concert hall in the world and received the honorary citizenship of the states of Texas, Massachusetts and Tennessee.
Where the Bangash Khans are concerned, the virtuosity and the sarod are encoded into the genome. Amjad Ali Khan will be joined on stage by renowned British cello virtuoso Matthew Barley.
Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2003
Elsewhere on BBCi:
Concert for Gugurat article
Official website:
www.sarod.com
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