COMPOSERS: Ustad Sultan Khan
LABELS: Navras
WORKS: World
PERFORMER: Ustad Sultan Khan (sarangi) Shaukat Hussain Khan (tabla)
CATALOGUE NO: NRCD 0112-13
Another highlight of the company’s end-of-year release is a complete concert by the sarangi player USTAD SULTAN KHAN, supported by the now late Shaukat Hussain Khan with some light, racy tabla work. As played by Sultan Khan or Ram Narayan, the principal North Indian bowed string instrument makes wonderfully mellow and malleable sounds, as expressive as a singer without words.
It’s extremely hard to bow with sensitivity and is still more often heard as an accompaniment to singers. This set, by turns lyrical and fiery, turns what can sometimes be an acquired taste into a voice of beauty and surprising agility.