Early in the 19th century musicians of Afghan descent, residing in North India, began to study and perform classical Indian Music. The instrument they played was the kabuli rebab (a) a wooden lute with a skin top and gut strings. In order to incorporate aspects of Indian music on their instruments, it was necessary to modify its design. This included the placing of a metal plate over the wooden neck of the instrument and the replacement of gut strings with wire ones. The new instrument came to be referred to as the sarod.
Gulam Bandigi Khan Bangesh
The history of the Gulam Ali Khan tradition of sarod is linked with that of the descendants of Gulam Bandigi Khan who came to India from Afghanistan. According to Amjad Ali Khan, Bandigi Khan Bangesh was an officer in the state cavalry of Maharaj Vishvanath Singh of Rewa. He played rabab as a hobby and taught it to his son Gulam Ali Khan (Malhotra 1973:17). Mukherjee writes that Bandigi Khan played the kabuli rebab as part of a military ensemble. It is thought that he may have had training in Indian Classical Music from Maharaj Kamakhya Prasad Singh of Rewa (Mukherjee 1977:130).
Gulam Ali Khan
Amjad Ali relates that Gulam Bandigi entrusted his son Gulam Ali Khan to Maharaj Vishvanath Singh for instruction in the performance of Indian classical music on the rabab. When Gulam Ali was twenty five his father passed away. By this time Gulam Ali had become well versed in music and "The Maharaj complemented him saying that now that he had taught him to play his rabab like a been [bin] he should embark on a tour of the country to play to music loving audiences in all the big towns" (Malhotra 1973:17-18). This tends to confirm the R.M. Maitra's view that sarod playinghas been influenced by the performance style found on bin. In approximately 1857 Gulam Ali moved to the Scindias of Gwalior where he was appointed court musician to the Maharaj (Malhotra:18).
Seniya influence
The court of Rewa maintained high musical standards, patronizing Seniya musicians Zafor Khan (who introduced the surshringar) and Pyar Khan. It is probable that Gulam Ali received training in classical music from musicians of this court though his exact connection with Zafor Khan and Pyar Khan is not known.
Oudh Court
The following information on Gulam Ali Khan can be found in the writings of R.M. Maitra:
"Ustad Ghulam Ali Khan, the celebrated Rebab player, who is supposed to be the first musician to have effected the modification of the Sarode from Rabab, was a court musician of the last independent King of Oudh, Wazid Ali Shah." (Maitra 1976 [1986]:17).
Sarod development
Mukherjee believes that it was Niyamatulla Khan, a contemporary of Gulam Ali, who first employed a steel plate as a fret-board on the instrument (Mukherjee 1977:132). This type of sarod was used by Gulam Ali's three sons. As suggested by Maitra (1976) it is best to regard Gulam Ali as a rebab player who, through his contacts with the Indian classical music tradition, developed a performance style which formed a basis for sarod playing. This music was later performed on the modified instrument known as the sarod. It is probable that in his latter days Gulam Ali also performed on the sarod and taught this instrument to his sons: Hussain Khan, Murad Ali Khan and Nanne Khan.
Footnotes
a) This article uses the word rebab to refer to the Afghan instrument known as the kabuli rebab. An alternative spelling for rebab is rabab. Similarly sarod is often spelt as sarode and Gulam is sometimes spelt Ghulam.
Bibliography
Malhotra, 1973 My Father: My Guru. Sangit Natak 4: 17-26
Maitra, R.M. 1976 [1986] Ustad Mohammed Amir Khan: the Great Sarode Newaj of Shahjahanpur, Calcutta: Vistar Music Circle Program Souvenir
Mukherjee, D.K. 1977 Bharatiya Sangite Gharanar Itihas (Bengali) Calcutta: A Mukherjee and Co.
