HYDERABAD: The names Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash are synonymous with rhyme and rythm. Sons of the sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, the duo along with New York-based concert master and soloist Elmira Darvarova performed at Taj Krishna at a concert labeled ‘Soul Strings’ on Tuesday.
Amaan said, “My father met Elmira on one of his projects and she’s a wonderful person and a talented musician with her own unique sound. For both me and Ayaan bhai, it is not important how good a musician is. Everyone has their ups and downs, we all strive to give our best everyday and what’s important is that we get along with the person we’re working it. There has to be a level of understanding that we are familiar and comfortable with.”
Classical music has long since been associated with the elite. It was never a genre intended for the masses and the fact that it is pushed onto so many people is disheartening. “Music itself is a process of discovery, our father never pushed us to embrace classical music. It was just a part and parcel of the atmosphere we grew up in. It was difficult for our father to teach us as well as we were the youngest pupils he ever taught. Initally, it was difficult for us to embrace the difference between Amjad Ali, the grand maestro and Amjad Ali, our father but that understanding came to us with maturity and age,” added Amaan.
Composing music is no mean feat and the process becomes all the more difficult when it is two people working on it together and the recipe for trouble when the people involved are brothers. “Our father has a very old school kind of thinking and during the early days, even before Amaan and I started performing, we would sit on stage and learn the art of interacting with the audience. When we hit a snag, we both come to an understanding because petty feuds benefit no one and the first and foremost point we keep in mind is that we both respect each other as artists and try to come to an amicable solution which we can both agree on,” said Ayaan.
The growth of a classical musician does not happen overnight. It is gradual where each new concert provides an opportunity to learn. “My father, till date, says that he is not a master and is still learning. Same goes for Amaan and me, we’ve recorded two albums so far, Soul Strings and Amalgam and recently completed a third one with Elmira. We haven’t named it yet but I’m looking forward to see what the people have to say about it,” concluded Ayaan.