The Saurangi Festival: A Tribute to Ustad Siddique Ahmad Khan

Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, 9 & 10 May 2005

Presented by Dainik Jagran, Saurang Parampara and Red Earth

Supported by Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra

Official Host: Radisson

Organisational Support: Swar Dharohar

Performers

The festival featured performances by Shubha Mudgal (Hindustani vocal), Aneesh Pradhan (Tabla solo), Sarwar Hussain (Sarangi solo), Murad Ali (Sarangi solo), Shiraz Ahmad – Faraz Ahmad (Hindustani vocal) and The Saurang Ensemble (conducted by Ghulam Sabir Khan).

The Vision

Sarangi, one of the most sophisticated instruments of the Indian musical tradition, is found in both folk and classical musical traditions in North India, under varying names and forms. It derives its name from ‘Saurangi’, after which this festival is also named, literally ‘one with a hundred colours’. The Sarangi has been the default accompaniment to Hindustani vocal music by virtue of its closeness to the human voice and ability to replicate patterns of vocal music. There has also been an interesting nexus between Sarangi players and vocalists, with several Sarangi players, like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Amir Khan, for example, taking to vocal music, vocal musicians learning from Sarangi maestros, and such other multi-directional flows. Of late, the Sarangi has been replaced by the harmonium in vocal music performances and its popularity is on the decline. That, coupled with the fact that it is a very difficult instrument to learn and master, has led to a situation, whereby it is becoming rarer and rarer to hear the Sarangi. The maestros from the older generation can be counted on fingertips; and few music enthusiasts of the new generation want to learn the Sarangi.

Besides accompaniment, it is also an instrument that has vast potentialities as a solo instrument, and it is thanks to the efforts of stalwarts like Ustad Bundu Khan and Pandit Ram Narayan that the Sarangi has found place in the Hindustani music pantheon as a solo instrument. However, the overall state of affairs seems to bleak and there is an urgent need to take steps to ensure the preservation and continuation of this invaluable musical heritage.

The Saurangi Festival is a small step in this direction. It aims to provide a much needed performance platform to the Sarangi. While the focus of the festival is the Sarangi, it also includes vocal  and other instrumental performances, and hence is indeed ‘one with a hundred colours’, much like the Sarangi. This first of its kind event will feature Sarangi solos by some eminent Sarangi players, as well as young and upcoming Sarangi players. In addition, all other performances in the festival will be accompanied by Sarangi. The grand finale of the festival will be a performance by ‘The Saurang Ensemble’, featuring 12 Sarangi players, in musical collaboration with western musicians.

The festival is dedicated to the Sarangi maestro late Ustad Siddique Ahmad Khan (1914-2003).

Saurang Parampara 

A gharana of vocalists, Tabla, Been and Sarangi players, the Moradabad gharana derives its name from a town in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. The city of Moradabad has contributed leading lights to the firmament of Hindustani music, like vocalist Ustad Aman Ali Khan, Tabla maestro Ustad Ahmad Jan Thirakwa and Sarangi maestros Ustad Siddique Ahmad Khan and Ustad Sabri Khan, to name a few.

Saurang Parampara is a society formed by musicians belonging to a branch of the Moradabad gharana. The society is headed by Sarangi maestro Ustad Ghulam Sabir Khan, who presently gives to tutelage to a number of Sarangi players and some vocalists in Delhi.

Since 2003, the society has been involved with promotion and propagation of the Indian performing arts, with a special focus on traditions of Sarangi playing. The society has been organising music concerts to foreground the Sarangi. Two such concerts, both dedicated to Sarangi maestro late Ustad Siddique Ahmad Khan (1914-2003) were held in New Delhi in 2003 and 2004, and were very well received by musicians and music lovers of the city . The performers featured in these concerts were musicians / students belonging to the particular branch of the gharana. In 2005, Saurang Parampara expanded the scope by starting a two-day festival which will featured performances by musicians from the gharana, as well as other musicians.

Press Coverage

When a Hundred Colours Hold Sway

Review by Manjari Sinha

The Hindu (Delhi), 20 May 2005

The Sarangi Gets its Due

Report by Arnab Bannerjee

Hindustan Times (Delhi), 13 May 2005