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"Music Room is about togetherness"

Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has more reason to celebrate now!

Mumbai: Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has more reason to celebrate after his recent Grammy nomination, his new album `Music Room` where he has for the first time individually collaborated with his two sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash. The musician says that the album highlights the values of togetherness and collective efforts.
"Today, everyone wants to do everything individually. The values of togetherness and collective efforts are dying out. Our album attempts to convey the importance of guru-shishya tradition and the value of togetherness and collective efforts," the Sarod Maestro told reporters. He said in the album he has performed separately with sons Amaan and Ayaan for the first time. "There are recordings of the three of us playing together but none where I am playing individually with Amaan andAyaan," he said, adding that he was pleasantly surprised by the different styles adopted by his two sons. "They do not sound alike and I was in for a pleasant surprise. I am happy and proud that they have arrived on the Indian classical scene," he said. Speaking about the album released under the Saregama label, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan said, "In these series we present some timeless ragas in some very interesting taals," he said. Ayaan and Amaan said the album was special because they have never recorded individually with their father. "The album attempts to re-create the concept of `taleem` which a guru would give his disciple," he said. Amaan said they have selected very traditional classical ragas which their father went an extra mile to teach both of them. "Our father has played with each one of us exactly the way he would teach us," he said. Ayaan said the album is special because it talks about the personal equation, three of them share. "Both Amaan and myself share different equations as sons and disciples with our father. That equation has musically transcended on our individual CDs with him in "The Music Room," he said. "A music room is not exactly a physical location, it is created wherever we are. There was no rehearsal for this album. Everything happened in the studio. Our father creates any location into a music room," Ayaan said. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan said his sons are multi-dimensional and worked on different genres of music. "Their book `50 maestros 50 recordings` released last month highlights the best of Indian classical music and was possible because of the large music archives present with companies like Saregama," he said. The musician who has won a Grammy nomination in the `Best Traditional Music` categorysaid that the government should take up the task of preserving archival materials in the field of art and culture. "It should support companies which have the treasure of Indian classic music in their records," he said. PTI