Ram Narayan

India has had a number of sarangi virtuosi who have distinguished themselves both as solo players and as accompanists. Pandit Ram Narayan ranks among the most eminient Sarangi players of today.

Pandit Ram Narayan was born on December 25, 1927 in Udiapur, Rajasthan. He belongs to a family which can boast of an unbroken line of five generations of vocalists and instrumentalists of great calibre. His father, Pandit Nathuji Biawat was a master of dilruba, a string instrument. He was very well known for his distinctive fingering technique in instrumentation. The family has contributed its mite to nuturing the Guru-Shishya Parampara of passing down the precious musical heritage to the next generation of disciples.

Pt. Ram Narayan"s formal training started at the age of 7. He received guidance from many veterans such as Ustad Mehboob Khan, Pandit Udayalal, Pandit Madhav Prasad and Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan. And by the age of 14, he had attained such proficiency over the instrument that he was assigned a job as a staff artist of All India Radio, Lahore (now in Pakistan). After partition, he joined All India Radio in Delhi.

Young Ram Narayan embarked on his career as an accompanist to vocalists, the traditional role to which the sarangi was limited. During this phase that he came to be widely recognised as an outsanding accompanist. He was sought after by various great vocalists and this allowed him to imbibe different hues of their art and perfect his own musical talent. The learning was to widely influence the experimenter and performer in him. Ram Narayan felt very deeply about his beloved instrument and its vast untapped musical potential. He was also distressed at the restraint imposed on freedom of expression of his own artistic impulses and aspirations by the secondary role of his instrument.

Finally, in early fifties, Ram Narayan decided to break the traditional mould and take the plunge. Initial reception to his solo performances, as expected in a traditionally orthodox environment, was rather lukewarm from all musical quaters. But having once decided to take a a different route, Ram Narayan persevered with an unfailing faith in the enormous potential of the sarangi and a supreme confidence in himself. Along with his brother Pandit Chatur lal (who is a great tabla player), Pandit Ram Narayan experimented with his instruments pursuing his search for the frontiers of expression of Indian Classical Music.

Ram Narayan had already been experimenting with the structure of the Sarangi and the bow, making necessary modifications in them. He also brought about changes in the traditional bowing technique as well as finger technique, all to suit the new role, the novel style of musical expression that he conceived for his musical instrument. By now, many of these changes have become established standards in sarangi playing.

Ram Narayan"s persistence finally bore fruit in 1957. His performane won the hearts of innumerable discerning music lovers, critics, musicologists and performers alike, and gave sarangi the recognition it deserved. Since then, he has performed extensively in India and abroad winning great acclaim and numerous notable awards such as Padmashree and Sangeet Natak Academy Award.

Pandit Ram Narayan has recorded many long discs in India and abroad. He has also authored a book on Indian Classical Music which was published by Manchester University Press.

In a glowing tribute to Pandit Ram Narayan, Yehudi Menuhin has said:

I cannot 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 a great musician to an instrument which is no longer archaic because of the matchless way in which he has made it speak.

View Schedule