“Sangeet maane na dharm jaat, sangeet se judi kaayanaat, sangeet ki na koi zubaan… (music knows no caste or creed, the world is joined by music, music has no language),” goes the lyrics of a Bollywood song ‘Rind Posh Maal’ from the film ‘Mission Kashmir’. And a mega art event, Jashn-E-Rekhta, is set to illuminate the capital. Ahead of the big show, thestatesman.com caught up with Bangash brothers, sons of sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan and Ayaan, who revealed their future aspirations and spoke at length about their love and home.
“It’s a privilege for us to perform at Jashn-E-Rekhta. Colours and flavours of this festival are well connected with all the creative roots. It’s going to be a beautiful moment for me and Amaan bhai,” the 37-year-old Ayaan said with an honour in his voice.
Titled as ‘A Musical Evening’, Bangash brothers’ performance will follow an inaugural session by two legends – writer and poet Gulzar and musician Amjad Ali Khan.
“It’s a pleasure as well as an honour for us to perform at such a prestigious festival. I heard a lot of people are coming for the event from all over the world. I am excited as it’ll be there in our hometown, so the euphoria is on peak,” the elder sibling, Amaan said.
When asked about the compositions and songs they are going to play in the evening, the musicians said it will be an audience’s evening. They further hinted they may mould some of poetry work with their classical compositions.
“We’ll play traditional folk music. We might do some of our experimental work, where we might sing a little bit. Poetry and music goes hand in hand, so we’ll try to blend some poetic work with traditional ragas and folk music,” Ayaan said.
Amaan joined in, saying it will be a challenge for them to present classical music to a totally different sort of audience. “With the purity of music, we’ll have to keep the audience in mind as well. Our sheer motto remains that no one should get bored. So it’s important we play something understandable and enjoyable for them.”
Jashn-E-Rekhta is a festival celebrating Urdu and art work associated with it, in shape of poetry, prose, drama, music, cinema and cultural performances like ‘mushairas’, recitations, debates, panel discussions, film screenings and exhibitions.
Talking about the Urdu language and culture, Ayaan said languages and dialects like Urdu, Persian and Sanskrit are beautiful in nature and have much to learn. “I have been lucky as Abba sahib coming from Madhya Pradesh and my mother from Assam, so I got to know about pure dialects.”
“At home, we usually talk in Hindi, melted with some serious Urdu. Because of such climate at home, me and Amaan bhai never spoke to each other in a tone like, ‘Tu kaisa hai, Tum kahan ja rahe ho’, it was always ‘Aap kaise ho, Aap kahan ja rahe ho’,” he added.
Ayaan added that languages hold an integral part of Indian heritage. “All languages are like heritage as Sanskrit is connected to all shlokas, Urdu is connected to all poets. Festivals like this are very important to keep these colours and flavours alive. So that, the coming generation must know about Ghalib and Geet Govindam.”
Amaan echoed Ayaan’s voice, saying “Urdu is a language that teaches about mohabbat (love), lihaz (respect) and adab (etiquette).”
“Music is an expressive art form. People sing, express, laugh and cry through music. We worship through music, like you see the temple bell and Azan is a sound. There is sound in Churches and Gurdwaras as well. In Urdu and Persian, there has been a lot of text written. Hazrat Ali Khusrau sahib has written so many beautiful songs in Urdu. You can see a great deal of Sufi Kalams written in the Urdu language that have been sung by great musicians from time to time,” Amaan said.
Under the fellowship of father Amjad, who was awarded India's second highest civilian honor Padma Vibhushan in 2001, the two brothers feel fortunate to be blessed with the greatest wealth.
“I was very fortunate to be born in a family, where music was the greatest wealth we have. Music wasn’t an out-of-the-box thing for a child to do. It was a very powerful environment. Even if abba was travelling for music events, there were students in the music room. Somewhere or the other, we could hear someone playing music at home,” Ayaan said.
Calling their fortune a “gift of god”, Ayaan said: “Excellence is all about Sadhna (practice). Tehseeb, tameez, uthna baithna, these were the things that were taught before playing music. We are blessed to have taught with such great deeds at home.”
In a family where music flows like water from a tap, the musicians revealed it always remains a learning session for them whenever they sit together to talk or eat.
“He (Amjad) plays a dual role at home as he’s my father as well as my teacher but sometimes the roles switch effortlessly. Like on the dining table, he can be the father for the first ten minutes and but then after the lunch he might turn into a teacher. Because of the fact that we are in the same field, we get to learn so much from him, be it in a lunch session or a walk with him,” Ayaan said.
Talking about the bond and relationship they share on stage, both showered praise on each other.
“When we are together on stage, our idea is to collectively present something beautiful. We try to make a bouquet of flowers together. We know each other’s mind and temperament for things. Not just performing, we have done so many things together like authoring books and hosting TV shows. Having said that, we never practice together as practicing is like meditation. You can’t meditate collectively. It’s an internal introspect,” Ayaan expressed.
Amaan said whenever he sits to play sarod, he always prays for his brother to play even better than himself. “Being my parents’ son, my aim is to fulfil their dream; we both should try to promote each other on stage, off stage and stay together with love and affection. Every set of parents want their children to be together, happy and successful in life.”
The instrumentalists’ family has earned their name and fame through sarod, a prominent stringed instrument of the Hindustani Classical Music. Ayaan termed it as a “sacred and spiritual” relationship that he shares with his instrument.
“We are slaves to our instruments. It’s very important to mind how you handle your instrument. Like for example, we are not allowed to carry sarods on board. So every time we check in, we pray to see it again in our hands safe and sound. These days airlines do that, they take care but you never know the treatment they’ll do to your instruments. ‘Jungle me nacha more, kisne dekha?’ We only hope and pray to see the instrument again in a perfect figure. After all, our souls stay in our instruments.”
Bangash brothers hosted the musical talent show ‘Sa Re Ga Ma’ on ‘Zee TV’ for three years in the early 2000s. Amaan said they miss television and hope to return on screen soon in near future. “I have great respect for people who dances, sings or perform on TV because I know how difficult is it to do. We are in talks with people and I hope for a great offer comes and definitely we’ll be back on TV again.”
The brothers are currently working on an album ‘The Journey: Rabab to Sarod’, which is expected to release in the end of February. “It’s about how rabab gave birth to sarod. It’s going to be a beautiful sounding album as we have put no end of love in it,” Amaan said, while signing off.
Putting the idea of celebrating unity in diversity forefront, the three-day cultural festival, Jashn-E-Rekhta 2017, will be held on February 17-19 at IGNCA in New Delhi.