Photo care of World Music/CRASHarts Press Center
WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts presents INDIAN SAROD MASTER, AMJAD ALI KHAN
Sunday, September 15, 7:30pm, Berklee Performance Center
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BOSTON, MA — World Music/CRASHarts presents Amjad Ali Khan, from India, on Sunday, September 15, 7:30pm at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave., Boston. Tickets are 48, $42, $37 or $28, reserved seating. For tickets and information call World Music/CRASHarts at (617) 876-4275 or buy online at www.WorldMusic.org.
In a career spanning 50 years, Amjad Ali Khan has single-handedly elevated the sarod to one of the most popular instruments in the Northern Indian tradition. Trained by his father, the legendary Haafiz Ali Khan, Amjad Ali Khan is the sixth in an uninterrupted lineage of music masters. Joining him are his sons, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, who are already beloved as the next generation of masters on this ancient instrument. Two tabla virtuosi will add percussive richness to the ensemble sound.
In the West, the sitar has become better-known than the sarod, but in India both string instruments are held in the highest regard. The sarod is much smaller than the sitar and its sound has a lithe muscularity that is lean and clean, with less of the sitar’s prominent jangling of sympathetic strings. The sarod comes from the Afghan rubab, a folk instrument which still dominates Afghan music today. Amjad Ali Khan’s great great great grandfather, Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash brought the rubab to India about 200 years ago, and it was his descendants who gradually transformed the rubab into the sarod as it is known today. The name sarod comes from the Persian ‘sarood’ meaning ‘melody,’ alluding to its more melodic tone.
The sarod has four strings used for playing the melody, plus four drone and rhythm strings and 11 steel sympathetic strings. The strings are plucked with a small plectrum, which can be a hammer or a feather, and the fingerboard is covered with a smooth metal plate which makes it easy to slide from note to note. The range of colors that a player like Amjad Ali Khan can get out of the instrument is truly incredible, justifying the instrument¹s important role in classical Indian instrumental music.
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About World Music/CRASHarts
World Music, a non-profit organization established in 1990, is New England¹s premier presenter of global culture, featuring music and dance from the far and near corners of the globe. In 2001, World Music launched CRASHarts as a division of World Music dedicated to presenting a contemporary performing arts series in greater Boston. World Music/CRASHarts strives to offer audiences an opportunity to share in many different cultural and artistic expressions and seeks to foster an atmosphere of discovery and exploration. The organization presents approximately 70 concerts and 15 educational programs per year. For more information, call (617) 876-4275 or visit www.WorldMusic.org.
World Music/CRASHarts is funded in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency which also receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
