Nrayan Family Artist Profile

Ram Narayan
Brij Narayan
Aruna Kalle

Profile

Ram Narayan Sarangi Player

Ram Narayan's name is synonymous with that of the sarangi. He began his professional career in Lahore in 1944 and continued in Delhi and Bombay emerging as the most sought after accompanist. Throughout this period, he was learning, researching and experimenting with his instrument. His efforts received encouragement and praise from singers like Pt. Omkar Nath Thakur. Pt. Krishna Rao Shanker Pandit and many others. His command over the technique of playing the Sarangi reached a point when he felt his role as an accompanist was too constrictive as he had far too much to offer in music than his role allowed. He then launched a solitary one-man effort to enhance the status of the Sarangi on the concert platform. As in any pioneering enterprise, the initial response is always disheartening. His unrelenting dedication and perseverance however, kept his efforts alive. The technical innovations he instituted have revolutionised its playing introducing a style that is now universally accepted as a model standard for all Sarangi players.

Besides his phenomenal technical ability, Ram Narayan’s success is also based on the richness of his musical ideas. By principle a purist, he has combined a powerful technical ability with a traditional approach to the actual music content, to produce a music, a sound that is at once appealing to any intellect. It must be pointed out here though, that Ram Narayan has received admiration in far greater degree in the West. It is probably for this reason that Ram Narayan's faithful admirers include musicians like Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Casals and Rostropovich amongst others whom he has enjoyed long associations with. Yehudi Menuhin comments:

"The Sarangi remains not only the authentic and original Indian bowed instrument but the one which most poignantly and in the hands of Ram Narayan most revealingly expresses the very soul of Indian feelings and thought. I can not separate the Sarangi from Ram Narayan, so thoroughly fused are they not only in my memory but in the fact of this sublime dedication of the great musician to an instrument which is no longer archaic because of the matchless way he has made it speak. "

In addition to perfecting the art of performing, Ram Narayan has also nurtured musical talent amongst his students. He has several students who are promising we well established musicians. Among his Sarangi students, outstanding is his daughter Aruna who has imbibed her training and musical qualities in a large measure and is already a Sarangi player of great individual merit. Brij Narayan his son has chosen to further the outstanding family tradition through another medium - he is a Sarod player of international acclaim. He is now teaching his grandson Harsh Narayan, who has great talent and will soon start performing.

The recognition Pandit Ram Narayan has received from musician and serious lovers of music has remained steadfast and growing. For over three decades Ram Narayan has enriched the musical lives of people all over the world with his music, he is the only artist who never had two opinions, no criticism, no comparison amongst Sarangi players and other musicians, he is the only most fortunate artist to have achieved this status, acquiring numerous awards and honors along the way, his contribution to Indian Art is widely recognized and respected - he has become a legend in his own lifetime. Some of the notable awards and honors include Padmabhushan, Aditya Birla (Kala Shikhar), Kalidas Sanman, Padmashree, Sangeet Natak Academy award (Delhi), Sangeet Natak Academy award (Rajasthan), Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar, Rajasthan Welfare Association award, Maharana Kumbha Samiti Dwara Acharaya, Shiromani Award, Maharana Mewar Foundation award, Maharana Hanwant Singh Marwad Sangeet Ratna Puraskar.

Artist Picture

Brij Narayan Sarod Player

Brij Narayan, the eldest son of the world-renowned Sarangi maestro, Pandit Ram Narayan, was born on April 25, 1952, in Udaipur, Rajasthan. He is a name synonymous with the Sarod, an instrument that fascinated him since a very tender age. His deep administration of his father's music (who incidentally, is also his guru) was one of the prime reasons why he was able to adapt with great skill Pt. Ram Narayan's own special technique of holding a bow to a plectrum instrument. And it is through this gifted ability that Brij Narayan is able to bring forth such tremendous originality to this powerful luth and, consequently, to the music he creates!

Two other great personalities are credited with having significantly influenced Brij Narayan's life and music: Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, and his uncle, the Late Pandit Chatur Lal, the elder brother of Pt. Ram Narayan, who was responsible for teaching him the science of rhythm. Brij Narayan acknowledges Pt. Chatur Lal's influence as one of the formative and enduring elements of his musicianship. However, his true guru is, obviously, his father, Pt. Ram Narayan, from whom he has inherited his fiercely independent outlook, and groomed his music into intricacies of musicianship. Brij Narayan's inimitable style is a remarkable fusion of a myriad aspects, including a great command of tonality, constant imagination in the melodic structure, and improvisation in rhythms. His special style is an art that perfectly combines dreams and aesthetic concern, poetry and flamboyance. He is a recipient of several awards including The Dagar Gharana Award from the Mewar Foundation in 1996. He has composed music for the film Bengali Night directed by internationally famous director, Nicholas Klotz, and he is credited with several CDs, LPs, and cassettes.

Artist Picture

Aruna N. Kalle Sarangi Player

Born in Bombay, Aruna N. Kalle is the daughter of the renowned Sarangi maestro Pandit Ram Narayan.

The Sarangi, an ancient North Indian bowed instrument is considered one of the most difficult to master. It had therefore remained relatively undeveloped in both its physical and musical aspects. Its traditional role as merely an accompaniment instrument for vocal music kept it further in the background. Aruna's father, however, emerged as its messiah and due to his pioneering efforts, the Sarangi is now in the mainstream of the performing arts.

Amongst his many students, Aruna occupies a special place since she has imbibed her father's playing technique and has a finely developed musical temperament. Her playing is marked for its graceful nuances. She brings a feminine sensitivity to Sarangi playing that is both rare and refreshing. Combined with that is a very strong technical background which facilitates a free and sensitive expression of musical ideas well formed and executed.

Although Aruna began her music training at the rather late age of eighteen, she made fast progress specializing in solo Sarangi playing and has since demonstrated her artistry in numerous concerts in India and several other countries. In addition to her regular concert schedule that takes her to Europe, the USA, India and Canada, she has also played on the background scores of a few Hollywood and Canadian films., the latest being Monsoon Wedding. Apart from the distinction of being one of only a handful of solo Sarangi players, Aruna is the only woman player of this haunting and difficult instrument.