Sarangi: Music of India

From the Label
In November 1974, George Harrison and Ravi Shankar collaborated with some of the greatest Indian musicians of this century on an American concert tour. During their stay in San Francisco, the Indian performers were invited to do an informal concert at The Stone House, a granite room in Fairfax, California. This recording is a document of that event, featuring Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi. The sarangi is a bowed, stringed instrument with a highly vocal sound and a limited number of able masters.

Tracks:

Raga: Bageshree
Thumri

Customer Reviews:

Sarangi Bliss.......2006-06-06

This album is great of course. It is Ustad Sultan Khan. He is one of the best sarangi masters there is. I want to let everyone know the structure of the tracks as I wanted to before buying. There is a very brief alap on Raga Bageshree and then goes into the gat. The track is about 30 minutes along. The thumri is basically the same way but it is shorter about 11 minutes long. The sarangi playing is definitely up front. The tabla playing is very minimal but always fitting. This is a great album. This is more accesible with the short alap and minimal tabla playing than his album of Raga Bhupali with Zakir Hussain though they are both great. Bageshree is one of my favorite ragas but this album was recorded in the 70's and the bhupali album was around 2000 i think. Therefore, the playing is much more mature. Also, Bageshree has a tanpura keeping the drone. Bhupali does not. So if you have a preference on that, that would help. All in all both are great albums in their own right but if i had to reccomend one i would probably say Bhupali. The long alap is beautiful and Zakir's tabla playing is unmatched.

Beautiful Indian classical music.......2002-09-20

A beautiful set of two long-ish ragas, recorded in 1974 by two members of Ravi Shankar's touring ensemble in an informal Marin County concert. Khan plays the sarangi, an elaborate stringed instrument that is played with a bow, like a violin. These two pieces are all about the mellow, languid "alap," (the slow, melodic introductory movement of longer Indian classical pieces... and should be a treat for anyone in search of something mellow to zone out on. Lovely stuff... definitely worth checking out.

Consumate Musician.......2002-06-16

I agree with the above reviews - I have about 80 Indian Classical CDs and Sultan Khan is a favorite - He's very lyrical while retaining good classical form - sort of reminds me of the asthetic Chopin would have in Western Classical Music. My other favorite is Sabri Khan who has a little more austere intensity - Ram Narayan is very austere and Dhrupad like.

Consumate Musician.......2000-01-31

sensitive, heart warming and thought provoking.......1999-09-22

I've listened to numerous North Indian Saranghi players (both on CD, and live in New York), but none of them moved me as deeply as Ustad Sultan Khan. His tone and sensitivity inspire emotion like noone else.

Average customer rating:

Inspired and Beautiful
Dissapointed
AS smooth as they can get

A Drop of the Ocean
Sultan Khan & Krishna Das
Manufacturer: Karuna
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Customer Reviews:

Inspired and Beautiful.......2007-07-16

A wonderful collaboration between two authentic spiritual musicians. I have loved Sultan Khan's musicianship and singing for years, and I have enjoyed chanting Kirtan with Krishna Das for years. I was surprised when I saw this collaboration between them as I thought of these musicians being in very different categories --- but it works!

There is obvious musical respect and rapport between the two. Ty Burhoe's tabla is wonderful, the guitar work seems out of context, but the overall album feels deep and inspired. Sultan Khan is the obvious Maestro here, but doesn't drown out Krishna Das's contribution.

Dissapointed.......2005-07-12

I hate to give a bad review, especially for talanted musicians, but this album is unsatisfying. After reading listeners' reviews from this and other sites, I decided to purchase this CD. What a dissapointment. If you want to own music by Sultan Khan, look elsewhere.

Although Khan's playing is, at places, soulful, there are too few inspired moments. Those places where the music begins to soar are unfortunately disrupted too frequently by distracting chanting and resitation by Krishna Das. Although I think Das' first album (One Track Heart)is excellent, here his presence fails to add anything inspiring. Rather, he chants the same old, tired melodies that he has already sung on numerous other recordings. Kahn's singing, although not at a professional level, at least sounds more authentic and heartfelt.

This could have been a much more enjoyable CD if they would have left out the singing. Perhaps I am a little too harsh giving only one star, but this CD will be an (expensive) dust collector in my music rack. Bottom line, IMO, if you want traditional Indian music that stirs the soul, skip the distracted efforts here and buy music recorded for a traditional Indian audence.

AS smooth as they can get.......2004-08-14

Ustad Sultan Khan is back with another classic interpretation of sarangi music at its best. Joined with Krishna Das an individual i have not come to imbrace musically. But Ustad set him on fire and both burn up each and every track on this glorious spiritual gem. The songs are filled with ustads classic lamented slow soothing playing for about 8min or so with krishna acompaning with beautifle poetry in english and in tongue or singing in tongue (ustad is also a featured singer. Then Krishna will accompany him with an oud or guitar and classical tablas fill the room with glorious harmony. This is a more subdued and slow album not fast and kaotic, very tranquel like a soft water current, perfect for deep meditation. Slow in the way the gopal shankar album on realworld is. This is the best album from ustad ive heard yet, except for the tabla beat science records the live one especially. enjoy

Average customer rating:

in this case, talking about stars is absurd

The Master (Ram Narayan) Sarangi
Ram Narayan
Manufacturer: Nimbus Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Tracks:

Raga Alhaiya Bilaval: Alap
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Customer Reviews:

in this case, talking about stars is absurd.......2004-04-18

Ram Narayan is One of the Greatest Musicians in the World. For me, the sarangi is the 'cello of Indian music and he is the Casals & Rostropovich of his instrument. Once you have heard Ram Narayan, you will not be able to resist purchasing everything that he has recorded, which is not a lot. He is a Master, an Inspiration, and a truly Great Artist. You will feel fortuntate to partake in his ART.

Average customer rating:

Virtuoso on brilliant form
Raga Shankara is simply out of this world !!!
Unearthly Beauty
jkljk

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Release Date: 1992-12-02

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Customer Reviews:

Virtuoso on brilliant form.......2004-01-21

Ram Narayan is the greatest living sarangi virtuoso, and this recording shows him in sparkling form.

He plays two ragas on this well-recorded studio CD from Nimbus, with a generous total playing time of 71 minutes allowing an adequate exposition of each raga.

The first is Shankara, a raga with both dignity and beauty. The beauty is established early on in the alap. The development of the raga continues through the alap into the jor, where the swooping, gliding and rise of the rapid note-patterns show the master is on superb form. Ram Narayan is joined eventually by Anindo Chaterjee on tabla, and the performances continues with a beautiful bandish in a slow teental, remarkable for the musicality and expression through Ram Narayan's superb bowing. The bandish ends after a display of the superbly executed tans which are Ram Narayan's trademark.

The second piece is more relaxed, a Ragamala in Jogia. In ragamala the artist can deviate from the main raga into others, and Ram Narayan musicality allows him to weave in and out of other ragas seamlessly. This time the majority of the performance is accompanied by tabla, and the pace picks up to an exciting climax. Anindo Chaterjee is a perfect accompanist, with a wonderful crisp style and a sensitivity to the soloist's needs. He also, as demonstrated here, can develop some fine tabla improvisation in his own solo slots.

The musicality of the ragas performed in this recording, and the fact that Ram Narayan was obviously in marvellous form, make this an excellent showcase of the artist, or a great introduction for those unfamiliar with the range and depth of the sarangi.

Raga Shankara is simply out of this world !!!.......2002-03-26

Raag shankara is a very emotional and dignified raag and for this reason it is recommended to be played at night time. The performance is very accurate and manifests the raag beautifully. Every time I hear it, the power of the raag is felt and emotions are stirred. It has always been more enjoyable to me when listening to it in the evening/night. After a long tiring day listening to shankara is a nice way to unwind and it undoubtedly has a relation to the human psyche and body clock at this time of the day. The way the artist has portrayed the style shows that he has a deep feeling and imagination, which the khyal style allows him to express. He appears to be very in touch with the raag and this, coupled with his immense skill on the sarangi, make for a superb performance. It comes as little surprise to me that when Pandit Ram Narayan gave a performance of this raag to an audience in Amsterdam, they were captivated and Joep Bor described it as "one of those rare moments where one becomes aware of the immense power of music". He goes on to describe how he has heard many other great Indian musicians playing for almost a quarter of a century but, "rarely have I seen a Western audience so enthralled, so carried away by raga music as this time in Amsterdam". This shows the accuracy of the performance and the excellent way the artist has so beautifully manifested a notoriously difficult raag through his sarangi.

Unearthly Beauty.......2000-07-01

A sarangi is a short, fat, bowed, multi-stringed instrument, about 30 or so inches long. It makes sounds like no other, varied and beautiful. According to the liner notes, it has been used mainly to accompany vocalists (for example, Sulochana Brahaspati on NI 5305 and Shruti Sadolikar on NI5346), but Ram Naryan and others have exploited its capabilites as a solo instrument. The sound can range from a little jagged, with lots of rosin, to plaintive or lyrical, to ethereal. Ram Naryan seems to make the most of it, and plays with the great concentration needed to play ragas lasting over 1/2 hour.

I am not competent to comment on his execution of the raga forms, which as usual, start with exploratory solos, with the tambura coming in later, and the tabla joining last for a grand ending. But a sarangi does not sound anything like a violin or wooden flute (i.e., Hariprasad Chaurasia), much less a plucked instrument like a sitar or sarod. It has a totally different feel and range of expression.

Anindo Chatterjee on the tabla is very effective, as well, and he appears on a number of Nimbus recordings.

There is nothing else in the world which sounds like a sarangi. For a different sort of beauty, get this disc!

jkljk.......1999-03-27

jhlhj

Average customer rating:

Alap: Morning & Afternoon Ragas
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Sarangi: The Human Voice in Strings
expand the sample time
A brilliant performance of an absolutely simple raag

Ustad Sultan Khan & Zakir Hussain
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Release Date: 1994-09-15

Tracks:

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Customer Reviews:

One of the best recordings of music on earth.......2006-07-01

This album definitely stands out as one of my favorite cd's i own or have ever heard. It is not possible to dispute Ustad Sultan Khan's virtuosity on sarangi, his soothing voice, or his incredible sense of music. This rendering of Raga Bhupali by Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi and Ustad Zakir Hussain on tabla is a gem not to be missed by anyone. The 2nd track features Sultanji singing as well. His voice is so haunting. Sultanji's feel for melody is perhaps unequaled in the world of music. This album proves it.

Sarangi: The Human Voice in Strings.......2004-12-11

This is a great performance. This is Ustad Sultan Khan on sarangi, and Zakir Hussain on tabla. Recorded live in concert in New Jersey in 1990. I give it 4 rather than 5 stars because I think the end was cut off of the drut gat. I have also always felt that the sarangi is more suited for gats than alaps, so it never quite has the powerful alaps of which the surbahar, sitar, and sarod are capable. The performance is great all the way through, but then at the conclusion of a musical "paragraph", when the crowd claps there is a quick fade and that is the end of Bhupali. At that time, there just was not the usual explosive flare (or fade back into a small minute of alap once again) that would normally signal the impending conclusion of the entire raga.

It just depends on my mood whether or not that even bothers me, though. Maybe I am too forgiving because Sultan Khan was the 2nd Hindustani musician I ever heard (excluding accompanists, of course) and bought cds of, so I have a soft spot in my heart for his classical performances. Maybe I am wrong anyway, but that has never felt like the true ending to me. At 53 minutes, plus 8 or 9 minutes of the Rajasthani folk song there was certainly enough disc time left over to present the complete performance.

Here Bhupali is a soft, yearning raga. Of course with an instrument as expressive ande voice-like as the sarangi, it always sounds like the earth is crying... or at least it does to me.

The folk song is lovely. It's not going to floor you with virtuosity the way the gats do, but the melody is truly sublime. Khansahib sings it with voice and with sarangi, to wonderful effect.

Another great thing about this disc is the sound quality. In some Hindustani recordings, the tone of the tabla is not fully captured. You'll get the pat, but not that aquatic bouncey depth, which is a major part of the tabla and the effect it has on the performance. In this recording it is all there. Every little nuance of the sound comes out of the speakers.

I think my longtime favorite Sultan Khan disc may be out-of-print, as it's not listed at this site and I haven't seen it anywhere in years (not that I have looked for it all that hard, seeing as how I have it), but this is as fine of a readily-available Sultan Khan disc as you could want. If you're coming to Sultan Khan from his Laswell fusion angle (first of all, I am sorry for that), this will show you the true scope of his art.

expand the sample time.......2003-08-13

well , in my opinion ustad sultan khan had brought us into the imaginary world. when i listened first i wasnt there. my mind went i dont know where. the problem is i m poor and cant buy this cd so if anyone can tell me where from i can download this i will pray him forever.

A brilliant performance of an absolutely simple raag.......2000-12-13

One might wonder that what else exists in raag bhoopali that remains to be discovered; Afterall this is a raag unknown to none, a raag first learnt by all musicians, and has been beaten to death by all. Yet Ustaadji's perfomance makes this simple raag most mysterious.

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If Only...

Dhruba Ghosh-Sarangi
Dhruba Ghosh
Manufacturer: India Archives
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Raga Khamaj
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ASIN: B000001657
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Tracks:

Raga Yaman: Alap & Vilambit Gat In Ektal
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Raga Hemant: Gat In Tintal

Customer Reviews:

If Only..........2004-12-22

...this release had been better recorded! That's the only thing that keeps this from being 5 stars. Sonically, on higher-intensity passages, and higher notes, Dhruba's sarangi sometimes kinda breaks up. Through no fault of his technique or anything like that... it's all due to how this was recorded.

I'm not sure why this is listed here as a "cd single". This is a full album... Raga Yaman breaks down as 32 minutes & 44 seconds of alap and slow gat in ektal, followed by a 19 minute & 33 second fast gat in tintal. Then an 18 minute & 15 second gat (tintal) in Raga Hemant.

Within the past couple weeks I reviewed another rendering of Raga Yaman by another sarangi player (Ustad Sultan Khan), and as much as I love that performance, this one is better. If this disc had been recorded at as high a quality as the Sultan Khan disc, this would certainly be the 5-star release. As it is, this is still an essential purchase, it's just that sometimes the sound is not what it could and should be. The performance makes up for the shortcomings of the recording.

Brothers Dhruba and Nayan create a mini miracle here. Dhruba's style is so introspective... so sad and contemplative. As I've said before, to me the sarangi always sounds like the earth is weeping, but Dhruba just may be the king at this. The songs of the humpback whales flow out of him.

I remember initially being surprised (and disappointed) that the alap here is only a few minutes long, but then by the end of that long, beautiful, slow gat, I didn't miss the alap at all.

After the incredible Yaman comes a 19-minute gat in Raga Hemant.. one of the famed Ustad Allauddin Khan's creations. There's certainly nothing wrong with this, but to a certan extent, anything would have been a bit of a let-down after the preceedings in Raga Yaman.

Be sure to pick this one up. You won't regret it.