A Legendary Offering: Ustad Amjad Ali Khan Unveils Never-Before-Heard Ragas in Inimitable
New Delhi: Panorama Music is proud to present a hand-picked collection of rare ragas from the treasure trove of the Grand Master of Sarod Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. On the eve of the legend’s birthday on 9th October, the music label released the golden selection recorded and assimilated by the maestro for the occasion.
The ragas that have been chosen for the album have not been performed by the virtuoso in public before. These have been specially picked out for music lovers who may have heard or read about them in theory books of Indian Classical music but would not have had the opportunity to hear them. This album offers the master’s rendition of the ragas in a special studio recording held after the pandemic. From Hari Kauns to Hussaini Todi and Lakshmi Todi to Prachin Khamaj, the album featuring 12 ragas in all, promises to be a treat for classical music lovers.
“The lockdown allowed me a deeper connection with my music. With few distractions and no traveling, I was able to meditate with music in a much more profound manner. I was able to revisit the years of learning and think about rare ragas that now find their place only in theoretic books and somewhat vanished from music circles. Despite a lifetime with the sarod, I saw so many fresh avenues opening up because I was more mindful than ever and have been trying to reinvent myself during this time,” says the legend.
“For music lovers, the album offers the first ever opportunity to hear the great maestro performing ragas, which have perhaps never been heard before. It is also an absolutely new recording of the legend featuring short renditions of ragas that have never been performed by him in public. In that sense, the album is a collector’s dream,” says Panorama Music C.E.O Rajesh Menon.
According to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, artistes accumulate music as their wealth. It is what they pass on to their future generations as their legacy. He believes in the therapeutic powers of music for people and the environment and also maintains that Classical music reinvents itself at every stage, remaining the bedrock of the vast ocean that music is.
In the latest album ‘Inimitable’, the legend can be seen at his finest, channelling decades of mastery over the art form and his instrument and integrating it with his vast repository of knowledge to bring this sublime offering to his fans across the globe.
“A wonderful and strange mystery of Indian classical music is the fact that one can spend a lifetime trying to attain knowledge and perfection and still feel that one has only touched a mere drop of an ocean. There is an old saying Swara hi Eshwar hai. In every culture, music has its roots in spirituality. Music has always been an internal part of worship of God,” says the maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
The album is sure to take you on a journey that transcends the limits of the mind, transporting you inwards to feel the power within.
