The Sri Shanmukhananda Chandrasekara Saraswathi Auditorium played host to the city’s connoisseurs of music on Saturday, all in attendance to witness the felicitation of sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, where he was conferred the 17th Sri Shanmukhananda National Eminence Award. The award was presented by V. Shankar, president of Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha, and the felicitation was followed by a sarod duet by Khan’s sons and disciples Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, accompanied by Satyajit Talwalkar on the tabla.
Rahul Deshpande (Hindustani vocal), K. Gayatri (Carnatic vocal) and Sandeep Narayan (Carnatic vocal) were also conferred the Shanmukha Sangeetha Shiromani award for significant contribution to music.
Speaking on the occasion, the maestro expressed his gratitude to his family for their support in his journey. “It has been a long journey for me as an artiste, and I was no child prodigy. It takes great sadhna (practice) to achieve goals in life,” he said before presenting a short tarana .
The National Eminence Award was set up by the Sri Shanmukhananda Sabha in it’s golden jubilee year in 2002. The award was instituted to motivate artistes and provide institutional recognition, which had faded away with the demise of temples and devasoms as patrons of fine arts, Mr. Shankar said.
“Ustad ji is the foremost ambassador of Indian music today, taking his art beyond the borders of the country,” he said and added that Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was chosen this year for his lifetime dedication to the cause of music. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh and a citation.
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was born into the Bangash lineage of Hindustani classical music, whose origins can be traced back to Afghanistan. He represents the sixth generation of this lineage, and is credited with having created many new ragas. Khan is a recipient of several awards, including the UNESCO award in 1970, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001. He has also authored a book My Father, Our Fraternity , published in 2012. The book is a personal memoir which explores Khan’s journey, while outlining the classical music tradition from the 12th Century to the present.
In 2014, Khan had the opportunity to play at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony at Oslo, Norway, along with his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash.
The writer is an intern at The Hindu
