Los Angeles (California), USA - Amjad All Khan has a new album,
Moksha (Real World Records). Amjad Ali Khan is one of the world's leading
contemporary sarod virtuosos, and the keeper of the sixth generation of his
musical family of Bangash lineage, rooted in the Senia Bangash school of music ~
responsible for keeping sarod alive for several hundred years. He is also a
traditional composer of some note, and proves his prowess on Moksha with
a selection of eight fresh original ragas.
Moksha is the ultimate goal of Hindu religious life, only attained when an individual becomes liberated from the life cycle (birth to death), and reaches a union with the Supreme Being. Moksha is what yogis call 'freedom' and Buddhists call 'nirvana,' yet it also transcends religious barriers. In playing sarod, the complex string instrument becomes a vessel for the player to 'sing through' it, and create an original sound. The fretless instrument allows free movement throughout the neck to slide easily over notes, creating a technique that is used at the start of what begets a raga.
With the help of his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, Amjad All Khan has created a religious journey though Indian classical music in a new and refreshing manner, and spawns yet another generation of sarod mastery. In turn, the sons become their family's seventh generation of keepers of the tradition,
[Buy Moksha]
World Music Central
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20050529074950894