After an uber-successful inaugural concert brought to Vegas by the newly formed India Fine Arts Association of Nevada (IFAAN) in March of this year, IFFAAN invites the community to their upcoming concert by one of India’s leading Sarod players, Ustad Alam Khan, on Sunday, August 6th, 2023, at 4 PM, West Charleston Library, 6301 West Charleston Blvd., Las Vegas.

Sarod is a popular stringed instrument of Hindustani or North Indian classical music. It typically has four main strings that the artist plays and an additional set of about ten sympathetic strings that resonate with the playing of the main strings producing a rich sound. It also has a few additional strings that are used for strumming as well as for creating a drone. While a Sitar has a sharp sound, Sarod produces a deep, melodic sound that compliments a Sitar very well. 

Hindustani or North Indian classical music is believed to have started about a thousand years ago and has been handed down through generations essentially through ‘Guru-Shishya’ training process. Through the years, the music has evolved in its style and approach of performance as well as creating different genres within  classical music like Dhrupad, Khayal, Thumri, Tappa, Dadra, etc. 

Media Coverage on Las Vegas ABC Channel 13

Buy your tickets online at https://www.ifaanlv.org/

Baba Allauddin Khan was a master of several different instruments including sitar, sarod, violin, shehnai, bansuri and is considered by many as the ‘Father’ of modern Hindustani instrumental classical music. He was born in a Bengali muslim family and he later became the court musician for the Maharaja of Maihar in Madhya Pradesh. Several of Baba Allauddin Khan’s disciples became the legends of Hindustani classical music, namely, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and Baba’s son Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and daughter Annapurna Devi. Baba Allauddin Khan was one of the pioneers in taking Indian classical music to the west when he toured with the noted dancer Uday Shankar’s (elder brother of Pandit Ravi Shankar) Dance Troupe.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan is considered as one of the greatest instrumentalists in Hindustani classical music in the last century. The tonal quality of his playing and the depth of his renditions were considered truly unparalleled. He was give the formal title – Swara Samrat for the purity of the tonal quality he produced. The depth of his compositions and his emotive style always set him apart from his contemporaries. He founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta which was later expanded to the bay area in the 1960s. This was the first formal school for teaching Indian classical music in the United States. Many noted musicians like Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Swapan Chaudhury, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee were the resident music teachers there at his invitation. Ali Akbar Khan sahib left us in 2009. The concert of August 6 will be performed by one of Swara Samrat’s able sons and disciples – Ustad Alam Khan. Ustad Alam Khan’s playing style and tonal quality are reminiscent of his legendary father. It will be a rare treat for the community to hear him in person and experience the lineage. Accompanying him on table would be Pandit Hidole Majumdar – a highly reputed table maestro of the famous Farookabad gharana. Welcome to the heavenly world of Hindustani classical music!

Media Coverage on Las Vegas ABC Channel 13

Preview…

Previously…Inaugural concert by IFAAN