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The sarangiya's song
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He has a fan in Madonna. Ustad Sultan Khan, the legendary sarangiya who is a gifted vocalist also, is comfortable with both classical as well as fusion music
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With a song in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, the Ustad who had been playing sarangi for over five decades, became a household name overnight. —Photos: K. Bhagya Prakash
HIS FIRST solo sarangi concert was at the age of 11. An age when most children just about learn to hold their pens properly. He became a household name at the age of 60. An age when most people call it a day. That's the story of Ustad Sultan Khan, the unparalleled sarangiya, who unfortunately has wider acclaim in the West than among his countrymen. It is rather strange that this disciple of Pandit Ram Narayan — one of the finest exponents of the sarangi — who has been at the sarangi for over five decades now, shot to fame for his unusual voice. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam gave a surprise twist to the career of the legendary musician when he so beautifully sang "Albela Saajan Ayo Re". Soon followed the haunting "Piya Basanti Re". And the Ustad, whose honeyed voice catches very subtle negotiations effortlessly, had launched himself as one-of-a-kind singer. From the hallowed domains of the classical music he had moved on to mainstream overnight.
Guileless
The Ustad appears to have no clue about his greatness as he quietly follows Zakir Hussain, the tabla virtuoso, for their performance for Concern India Foundation in Bangalore. The well-turned-out, media-savvy tabla maestro was followed by the 64-year-old Ustad, whose last concern is perhaps how he looks and what he wears. They made a great picture in contrast.
"I can speak only Hindi, anpadh hoon naa," he explains as we look for a place to talk. "I could have probably gone through some crash course and learnt English in three months. But I'm Hindustani and will speak in Hindi," says the gutkha-chewing Sultan Khan with certainty. But this could work against him and other gharanedaar musicians in the country who are incapable of PR exercises, he admits. "We are so much into music that we are unaware of the ways of the world," he says talking for the cloistered tribe of musicians. "Yeh to media ka zamaana hai. If you don't make it in the media, you are in a way doomed. It's up to you people to bring them under the limelight."
Early memories
The earliest memories of sarangi for this eighth-generation musician go back to his cradle days. He loved kusti and football, but couldn't help becoming a sarangiya, because that was his sole passion. Ustad Sultan Khan grew up listening to a lot of music. His father Ustad Gulab Khan was both a sarangiya and a vocalist. And Ustad Sultan Khan too was trained in both. However, his father wasn't too keen that his son take up music as his profession, for he feared he would have to sleep hungry. But the young Sultan Khan was determined.
Growing-up years had generous servings of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Omkarnath Takur, Fayyaz Khan, and Siddeshwari Devi. One can recognise elements of various gharanas in his music today. The Ustad has even brought out an album on the three gharanas that have inspired him the most. In this unique album, he has played three ragas in the style of three gharanas — the Agra gharana (Fayyaz Khan), Patiala gharana (Bade Ghulam Ali Khan), and Indore gharana (Ustad Amir Khan).
But has Ustad Amir Khan saab inspired him the most? Isn't his music laced by many Amir Khani graces? "He was my biggest icon. My ideal. His badhat, taan patterns, and sargams used to impress me a great deal." What impressed him more was the bhakti element in Amir Khan's music. And he insists that without an element of spirituality, no music is complete. "Every note I play is a call to Eshwar."
Mainstream blues
Does it break his heart that he had jump into the popular bandwagon to get noticed? "Why should one feel bad? No music is big or small. If these things disturb you, you cease to be a musician." For the Ustad who "has never sought anything", his break in Bollywood was only a matter of chance. And he didn't have to alter his philosophy for that. "Jo be gaaya, maine pyaar se gaya."
It's the same "pyaar" that made him dear to the savant of Sufi music, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. They knew each other for 10 years and each time the Ustad played for Nusrat, he wept. "We were on different roads but we never had a problem with what we believed in."
The 64-year-old Ustad, whom you would believe is a conservative musician with compartmentalised views, has more shocks is store. "I'm very comfortable doing fusion with artistes in the West," he reveals. "I'm not educated enough to impress people by my talk. It's only through my music that I can reach them. They love me a great deal and I'm very popular," he reasons. If Madonna, one of his biggest fans, can wear mehendi and learn Vedic chants for her album, why do we feel insulted, argues Ustad. Moreover, he feels in the West all artistes, main or accompanying, are treated on an equal footing. "Everybody gets equal respect."
The Ustad, with his ustadon ka instrument, holds forth Maru Behag. A prayerful, meditative atmosphere sets in. A robust pluck, a subtle grace, long, penetrating stopovers on notes, poignant silences, torrential taans, vibrant gamaks, now staccato, now flowing... and the never-like-before, understated, elegant tabla... a piece of poetry unfolds. And then you remember Ustad's words: "Mera riyaz nahin gaata, mera rooh gaata hain. Is liye Khuda sunta hain." (It's not my practice that sings; it's my soul that sings. And that is why God listens.)
DEEPA GANESH
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