'Music connects souls'

When Ustad Amjad Ali Khan explains how Swar hi Ishwar hai (Sound is God), you know that he’s the living embodiment of someone who, through the hauntingly beautiful strains of his sarod, has realised God.
He says, thanks to the Beatles, the sitar became all the rage in the western world, but the “sarod has not got its due. I’ve taken it as a mission to put this instrument, created by my forefathers, alongside the violin and the guitar in terms of popularity.”
The Ustad’s relationship with Chennai goes back a long way and runs deep.He starts off with fulsome praise for Stephen Devassy, whom he refers to as “your Chennai boy”. “He is a powerful keyboard player, and a very good human being, and we’ve just worked together on a sarod symphony.”
The Ustad, who shared a wonderful relationship with MS Subbulaksmi and on whose advice he visited the Shankaracharya Mutt to play for all the four spiritual heads, says, “She was such a spiritual person. One could see the divinity reflected on her visage. She’d drop by for all my concerts. It was after watching the film Meera that my wife’s parents decided to name her Subhalakshmi.”
He’s partial to playing in the south because “the realisation of God and music and God in music is much more pronounced here.”
He continues in the same vein, “Music connects souls and cuts across barriers because the language of music is universal. Nobody has created the thirteenth note. There are two types of music, one that is pure sound, the kind I play, and the other which is embellished with language. To my mind, sound is the purest form of music, uncorrupted and unburdened by any extraneous elements.”
So, what is Khan saheb going to play this evening at the Times Chennai Festival? “Definitely raga Ganesh Kalyanam. There’s an interesting story behind this raga. A few years ago, I’d this constant tune working in my head and I went about humming it without even realising why and how it had come into my consciousness. Then, I decided to transfer this tune from my head to the sarod strings. And I ended up with a new raga! It was around this time I was invited to play in Pune during the Ganesh festival, so I named it thus. If I tell people that it was God who put this music into my soul, they’d think I’ve lost it, so I take the credit for it!”
While he’s all geared up for this evening’s performance, the Ustad pleads that there be complete silence for the duration of his recital. “Electronic music encourages noise, conversation and communication, but the beauty of sarod is most exquisitely experienced when there’s silence. Get the best out of me!”
All praise for The Times’ initiative, he says, “ It’s a great service towards preserving the cultural heritage of our country.”
Finally, ask him if there’s any message he has for Chennai’s youngsters, and he replies, “Please do not ever lose your identity. Technology and tradition can be great friends and to embrace one, you don’t have to ditch the other.”
The co-host for the event is Sheraton Park Hotel and Towers.
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