One wonders which amongst the tabla, the sarangi or Hindustani vocal is the most loved and the favourite of Ustad Faiyaz Khan, a maestro of all three. However, observing him with his students at Nirvana School of Music, Jew Town, Mattancherry, where he conducts classes twice a month, one’s perception expands. His dedication, devotion, and passion convey that music is all encompassing. A true lover of music is beyond favouritism.
Hailing from Dharwad, North Karnataka, before he moved to Bangalore, it was tabla that aroused Faiyaz Khan’s interest. At the age of six he was initiated into it by Pandit Basavaraj Bendigiri. He continued his training later under Ustad Nizamuddin Khan, Ustad Mamulal Sangoankar, and Pandit Santha Prasad.
His modesty and humility - signs of a true artiste - touches you within moments after meeting him. Music comes natural to him. Faiyaz Khan’s musical lineage spans over eight generations. His grandfather was a famous sarangi artiste in the courts of the Mysore Maharaja and the Nawab of Hyderabad. His father, a sarangi performer, was a staff with All India Radio and accompanied many musical icons. His mother was a sarangi player and a vocalist. Thus hailing thus from a family of sarangi pandits of the Kirana Gharana, music was inborn in him.
It was sarangi thus that was infused in him and before long he was fortunate to have been tutored in it by the maestro Pandit Rama Narayan, in Mumbai, who popularised and promoted sarangi from being a mere accompaniment to attaining solo classical status like the sitar, bansuri and sarod. The repertoire of sarangi players is customarily closely linked to vocal music.
“Sarangi is considered to be the only instrument that resembles human voice. It reproduces human feelings and emotions. Thus, traditionally the instrument is presumed to play after the singer and imitate the vocal performance and fill in the gap between the phrases. So it is but natural that a sarangi player is always a trained singer too, adept at the rules of classical music”, he declares. His guru in Hindustani vocal was Pandit Ranganath Joshi.
But things have not been easy in Faiyaz Khan’s personal life. On October 25, 2012, he lost his wife Parveen Begum in a tragic car accident. Yet the unexpectedness and suddenness of losing one’s life partner at a young age was handled with maturity, courage, and farsightedness. Within months he launched Parveen Begum Musical and Educational Trust, in his wife’s memory.
Since its inception gifted musicians, tabla players, sarangi performers and other artistes have enthralled the audience with their talent. The Trust is a not just a stage for leading performers but also a platform for young, budding novices too, to showcase their talent to the outside world.
His two sons, barely in their teens, are already maturing into musicians. While the elder son has taken to sarangi, his younger sibling is mastering the sarod. He waves off his personal tragedy. “It is my personal loss. I shall live with that loss and die with that loss,” is all he wishes to say about it.
Faiyaz Khan’s musical journey has been as eventful as it has been rewarding. He has performed solo and in groups across the country with renowned artistes and musicians.
Skilled at Lehra , which is a set of group of notes in a prescribed manner that forms the basis of the rhythm, he has accompanied top artistes. As sarangi is adaptable to many styles he has also ventured into films and worked with musicians like A.R. Rehman.
He remembers fondly working with M. Jayachandran for the hit movie Perumazhakalam where he rendered the haunting opening lines Barasu barasu badhuraa aasha ki bhoonden , from the song Raakilithan in the movie.
His only grievance is that in spite of his efforts sarangi is still an accompaniment and not given its due as a solo instrument for concerts. “If the sitar and sarod are the main instruments why can’t the sarangi be offered the same status? It is on par with those instruments,” he affirms.
“As sarangi music is synonymous with vocal music, a lot of lobbying and foul play from a section of insecure singers and musicians is going on. It is they who are responsible for the poor understanding of sarangi” he concludes.
