Ayaan and Amaan Bangash tell SHALINI SAKSENA how engaging it was to create a rendition of Vaishnava Jana To with their father Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
At a recent concert by HCL themed Infinite Hope, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash created a rendition of the popular track Vaishnava Jana To on sarod, available on HCL Music app. It stems from the need to celebrate compassion and love in the times we live in. “I hope India is a true superpower in terms of humanity, love, peace, coexistence and tolerance. I pray that India sets examples for the entire globe,” Amaan said.
Talking about the performance, Ayaan says that music has many faces. “Conversation, recitation, chanting and singing are all part of music. Music can be either vocal or instrumental. Vocal music appeals to most of us because of its poetical or lyrical content. Instrumental music on the other hand, such as what I play on the sarod, is pure sound. It needs to experience and felt. Since there are no lyrics, there is no language barrier between the performer and the listener, and that is why instrumental music transcends all barriers,” he says and tells you that the theme is inspired from the man himself — Mahatma Gandhi.
“The one man who we owe a lot to is unquestionably Mahatma Gandhi. A man far ahead of his time, a man with a vision and a man spiritually uplifted. From Satyagrah to the Non-violence Movement, we discovered who we are from his voice and vision. Whenever I am asked, within India or abroad, what Gandhi means to me, I am filled with joy and pride as he was truly an outstanding Indian. And today, he has become a global icon of goodness, truth, love, non-violence and peace. Another fundamental contribution which Gandhi made and which I greatly admire, is to give primacy to truth and reason rather than conformity to traditional religious practices,” Amaan says and tells you that every project has its challenges as the eventuality is to attain perfection.
“Indian classical music allows innovation. Our father believes in tradition but not a convention. We have played new compositions that have been written for soul strings, however, there was room for all of us to improvise and give our interpretation and musicality to the pieces. The amalgamation has been very outside-the-box as a collaboration between a bow instrument and a pluck instrument is very unusual and often not attempted. We have been very fortunate to have received so much love and adulation from music lovers all over the world,” Amaan says.
The brothers are now preparing themselves for a US tour this month with Ustad Amjad Ali. Once that is over, they have concerts lined up in India.
