The Best of Sarod (From the Archives of Saregama HMV) (Audio CD)

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Ustad Allaudin Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pt. Buddhadev Dasgupta, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.

Indian classical music is known as shastriya sangeet literally music based on the shastras or scriptures. While a shastra is always a written text the material for many such treatises goes back beyond the era of the written word handed down through a strong oral tradition that is the basis of teaching and learning in Indian music to this day.

The two pillars of Indian classical music are raga the melodic unit and tala the rhythmic unit. Traditionally India music is a solo form. Typical western music features like orchestration harmony and chords are absent. The melodic unit featuring here is synonymous to the sound of the human voice. We are talking about an instrument that speaks eloquently about the close connections between India Afghanistan and the Persian world Sarod. Its erstwhile exponents like Ustad Allaudin Khan to Today’s Ustad Amjad Ali Khan have taken the Sarod to the world and made it an instrument of repute.

Best of… series showcases some of the finest recordings of various instruments from Saregama Archives.

What is Sarod

The Sarod or sarode is a stringed instruments used mainly in Indian classical music and is said to have descended from the rabab a similar instrument origination in and around Kashmir.

According to a popular theory the sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan’s ancestor Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash came to India with the Afghan rabab in the mid 1700s and became a court musician to the Maharajah of Rewa. It was his descendents who gradually transformed the rabab into the sarod.

The form of the present day sarod dates back to c.1820 when it started gaining recognition and respectability in Rewa Shajahanpur Gwalior and Lucknow.

The three main gharanas each use a differently designed instrument but the conventional sarod usually is an 18 to 19 stringed lute like instrument with a body made of teak wood. This fretless instrument is difficult to master and has a very deep weighty and introspective sound. The best known sarod maestros are Ustad Allaudin Khan, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta Among the younger generation Amaan Ali Bangash Ayaan Ali Bangash and Wajahat Khan Have made their presence felt with their playing styles.