SGIS treated to free concert from Indian classical music master

As part of a partnership between the Jacobs School of Music and the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program in IU’s School of Global and International Studies, students, faculty and staff got to see world class music for free from India’s foremost classical musician. Amjad Ali Khan performed solo and with his son Ayaan Ali Bangash in a noon concert for an overflow crowd in the global lounge on the Global and International Studies building first floor.

Khan is a Grammy nominee and a master of the sarod, a stringed instrument similar to the lute. During his hour appearance, he spoke about the music and then visited with appreciative concert-goers afterwards.

During a residency at the Jacobs School lasting through Oct. 22, Khan will serve as an adjunct professor of Indian classical music. He will teach “Fundamentals of Indian Classical Music,” open to graduate students and upper-level undergraduate students in the Jacobs School. He is also performing at the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival at 7:45 p.m. Sept. 17 in Bloomington’s First Christian Church. Bangash’s concert and Khan’s time in Bloomington are supported by IU’s Office of the Provost and Office of the Vice President for International Affairs in addition to the Jacobs School of Music and the Dhar India Studies Program.

Coming from a long line of musicians, Khan has performed on the sarod since the age of 6. He was taught by his father, who was the fifth generation in the Bangash family lineage known as the Senia Bangash School of Music. Khan has performed internationally since the 1960s, including major music festivals and prestigious venues such as the Kennedy Center, Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall.

Khan counts numerous collaborations among his many recordings. He and his sons performed with Bloomington’s Carrie Newcomer on her 2011 album “Everything Is Everywhere.” His sons also performed at the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Concert for Malala Yousafzai.

Khan has received numerous honors, including the Indian government’s Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavna Award for his outstanding contributions toward promotion of communal harmony, national integration and peace. He also has received lifetime achievement awards from the Delhi government and New Delhi Television Limited’s Indian of the Year Awards, the UNESCO Gandhi Medal, the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum, UNICEF’s National Ambassadorship and India’s highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.