While continuing the legacy of their father, Ustaad Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash have developed a grammar that makes the sarod more relevant to contemporary times. By Team Viva

What has been your creative process?

Amaan Ali Bangash: To be a musician is in itself a blessing as you are really not answerable to anyone but yourself. For the few hours when you are onstage, you are in a creative frenzy, sometimes supernaturally unreal. There are times when you get off stage only to realise that something special happened up there on stage that day.

Ayaan Ali Bangash:  It’s a blessing to be in a profession where you love what you are doing. It is also non-debatable that music is indeed the best way to connect to that supreme power who we have never seen. Be it any religion, music has always been the pathway to spirituality. It’s therefore not time-bound but a part of a larger journey.

What would you say about the charm of Sufi music? Do you think it’s charm is still intact?

Amaan: Frankly there is no such thing or term as sufi music. Only the text can be sufi not the musical notes. Therefore the songs or compositions of course are within the same 12 notes of music. Though it’s a spiritual path for us, the text makes it sufi or otherwise.

Ayaan: The base is 13th century sufi songs composed by Amir Khusro. He was not just an Indian musician, scholar and poet but also an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. A sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, Amir Khusro was not only a notable poet but also a prolific and seminal musician. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but also in Hindavi. This album has us on the sarod and vocals along with the traditional qawwali singers who sing at Khusro’s shrine in Delhi. Qawwalis and folk songs, the most popular genres in the Khusro tradition, have kept his name alive among the masses for more than seven centuries. These are our interpretations.

What are the music trends of 2020?

Amaan: We have been very fortunate to have had a certain kind of a grooming where music for us wasn’t a profession but a way of life. Today there is talent in abundance but there is a lack of consistency. It’s a very long journey and one has to have patience, tolerance and perseverance. Having been reared on a diet of tradition and continuity, it’s difficult to be living in a modern world with classic values. Yet, we chose to belong to a system, where oral knowledge is passed on from guru to student along with actual music lessons.

How can emerging artistes imbibe traditions in their art?

Ayaan: We’re doing a lot of stuff ourselves. The instant success of any of these, as opposed to the long hours of dedication required in the traditional set up, sometimes stands in the way of progress. We think it’s great to imbibe cultures from all around the world but let’s not forget who we are or what we have to offer. We need to be, first and foremost, proud of ourselves. Let’s not get embarrassed about the Indian way.

How have you explored different music genres over the years?

Ayaan: It’s a great time for creativity. We recently heard a Jazz bhajan in a studio in Chennai. We have been very fortunate to have worked with some fabulous artists. Rahim Alhaj of course was the most recent one who is also a three time Grammy nominee. We have also collaborated with Derek Trucks, who is one of the top 10 guitarists in the world, at Savanaah Music Festival in Georgia as well as the Evelyn Glinnie, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Joe Walsh and many others. Every collaboration has had it own beauty, charm and journey.

Over the years, we feel very blessed to have received so much love and warmth from music lovers. It’s always both inspiring and challenging to perform here. We look forward to the concerts with Sharon Isbin. The idea is to achieve a cross-fertilisation at both the cellular and cosmic levels of two classical music traditions, which are often held to be radically different.

Amaan: Our goal through this process is to engage and celebrate the shared and discrete musical “DNA” of both traditions from a perspective of abundance. This is a blissful dream of a project, infused with the unique amalgamated contributions of artistes united under a common aegis, regardless of their diverse background, cultures, traditions, generations, genders, religions, upbringing, and career paths. I am looking forward to our concerts coming up with Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra.