“Amjad Ali Khan may be a master of the sarod rather than the guitar, but once he had built up to the crescendo of his solo set – improvising furiously around the melody line with repeated, rapid-fire playing and then letting his equally frantic tabla player take over – it was easy to see why great Indian music can be as exciting as classic blues and rock.” (The Guardian)

UMS welcomes sarod master Amjad Ali Khan for his UMS debut appearance this season. The sarod is smaller than the sitar and sits in the player’s lap. Its metal fingerboard has no frets and is played with the tips of the fingernails.

Amjad Ali Khan was only six years old when he gave his first sarod recital. After his debut, the career of this musical legend took off, and the Indian classical music scene was witness to regular and scintillating bursts of Raga supernovas. He was born to the illustrious Bangash lineage rooted in the Senia Bangash School and studied with his father and guru, the great Haafiz Ali Khan. Today he shoulders the sixth generation inheritance of this legendary lineage – and his sons, who perform with him, belong to the seventh generation.