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Maestro Amjad Ali Khan To Perform Live On WFIU

a man sits on a fur-lined surface playing a sarod

On Wednesday September 25, WFIU will host a very special guest for a live, in-studio performance during the 10am hour of Classical Music with George Walker.

World-renowned Indian classical music maestro Amjad Ali Khan is visiting Indiana University Bloomington as a guest of the Madhusudan and Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program and as the first School of Global and International Studies Artist in Residence.

"Through my residency at Indiana University, I would like to reach out to students with experience playing a musical instrument including voice from any musical tradition," he added. "No previous experience with Indian music is necessary. There is room for music beyond technical brilliance and firework mastery. There is a word of punctuation even in music. Appeal, aesthetics and poise are all musical terms for me. Above all, I'd like students to realize and feel music as a way of life. Through music I would like to connect the world," Khan said.

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Khan, a master of the sarod, a lute-like stringed instrument from India, will be joined by his son Ayaan Ali Khan. Amjad Ali Khan has performed on the sarod since he was 6 years old, having been taught by his father, the sixth generation in the Bangash lineage.

He has performed at major music festivals worldwide, including the WOMAD festivals, the Edinburgh Music Festival, the World Beat Festival, the Summer Arts Festival in Seattle, BBC Proms, the Shiraz Festival and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. He frequently performs at Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Kennedy Center, Santury Hall (where he was the first Indian performer), Chicago Symphony Center and the Opera House in Australia.

His musical collaborations have included works composed for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as duets with guitarists Charlie Byrd, Alvaro Pierri and Barry Mason and violinist Igor Frolov.

In 2010, he released with his sons the album "Sarod Symphony," which was a presentation of some of his compositions within a symphony. His concerto for Sarod and orchestra, "Samaagam," resulted from collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and was released worldwide the following year.

In 2011, the Grammy-nominated artist released a collection of Indian classical ragas and collaborated with Carrie Newcomer on her album, "Everything Is Everywhere," with his sons.

Khan recently was honored with the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavna Award, which is given by the Indian government to those who make outstanding contributions toward promotion of communal harmony, national integration and peace. He also has received the UNESCO Gandhi Medal, Padma Vibhushan (Highest Indian civilian award), UNICEF's National Ambassadorship and the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum.

There will be a public demonstration by Amjad Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan at 5:30pm the on September 25 in Auer Hall, to which all are welcome. The Khan family also will be performing at the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival as part of its evening performance schedule at 7pm. September 28.

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