Amjad Ali Khan: Devi

“Amjad Ali Khan is the most charismatic performer of Indian Ragas”
New York Times

   

“Amjad Ali Khan is the master of the Sarod. Smaller than a sitar, it has 19 strings. Accompanied by his two sons, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, on similar instruments, they created a 57-string three-man symphony orchestra.”
The Times, London

Maestro Amjad Ali Khan, the legendary master of the sarod, has created a new and very special program for the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. Entitled Devi (the Sanskrit word for “goddess”), it features a set of ragas based on Vedic texts and dedicated to Hindu deities embodying purity, austerity, knowledge, music and art, and wisdom and learning.

“Like cosmic divinity, music knows few barriers or boundaries. Music should be like a bouquet of flowers. I hope and pray that we always have kind people in the world and that there is love around us. It is this love, compassion and kindness that represents Devi. And thus Devi is to be found deeply in music. I feel connected to every soul and song in the world. Thus to connect us all to this divine feminine energy, I have created this program of ragas inspired and named after forms Devi. Devi – the feminine form, and Deva – the masculine form, mean “heavenly, divine, anything of excellence”, and are also gender specific terms for masculine and feminine deities in Hinduism. Divine feminine energy has been greatly revered as “Devi” in Hinduism. The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were composed in the 2nd millennium BCE. The divine feminine energy has the strongest presence as Devi in Hinduism, among major world religions, from the ancient times to the present.”
—Maestro Khan

Program

Raga Shyma Gauri (purity and austerity)
Raga Saraswati (music and art, wisdom)
Raga Revati (devotional)
-Amjad Ali Khan

Raga Bageshwari (knowledge and learning)
-Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash

Raga Durga (combatting evil that threatens peace)
-Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash