Rāgas and Redemption: Alam Khan’s Spiritual Legacy

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Before Achilles found glory and Odysseus eventually found his way home, someone had to compose the Iliad and Odyssey. But was their credited author, Homer, even real? Hi, I'm Greg Jenner, host of You're Dead to Me, the comedy show that takes history seriously, and we are travelling back to 8th century BCE to trace the origins of the Iliad and Odyssey, epic poems that became backbones of Western literature. Join me and my fantastic guests as we unpack the stories of ancient Greek culture, war and triumph and have a laugh while we do it. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

0:41Thank you. Bye.

0:46Right here, let's watch this stuff. Here it is. So this is your father's grave. Yes, here underneath this beautiful redwood tree. How often do you come back here? I try to visit somewhat regularly. And, of course, when people come to town and want to pay their respects, I always come, and then on the obvious days, like birthdays and death anniversaries, and sometimes on days like Guru Purnima or Saraswati Puja or some kind of thing like that, I'll come and visit him because he was the embodiment of that in human form for me. The god of music, essentially. Yeah.

1:40I'm stood with Alam Khan, son of the late Indian classical maestro Ali Akbar Khan. was staring at his father's headstone where a picture of Ali Akbar cradling his beloved instrument, the Saurd, is set into the granite. For more than 150 years, the Khan family have been renowned virtuosos of the Saurd. It's a fretless steel-stringed instrument akin to a sitar. But since his father's death, Alam, in his early 40s and of mixed-race American heritage, has borne the responsibility of carrying forwards this sacred Indian classical lineage. I'm not going to be my father, Ali Akbar Khan, I'm Alam Khan.

2:24But it was probably so much weight because I had to completely carry on this classical tradition and how am I going to reach that summit? How am I going to reach that mastery?

2:43This is a documentary on the BBC World Service. I'm Rajiv Gupta and for Heart and Soul, I'm in San Rafael, Northern California, hearing how Alam has dealt with the pressure of being the torchbearer for his forefather's musical legacy. For exponents of the serod, this is not just an instrument, but melodies and agas that connect one's soul to the divine.

3:20You always take your shoes off. We're going inside, going into a temple. We've travelled around 10 minutes to the Ali Akbar College of Music, where Alam has now followed in his father's footsteps, teaching students who travel here from all over America and the world to learn the sarod. I continue to want to introduce people to my instrument, the sarod. You know, it's always been the case that sitar is known more. You know, Ravi Shankar hooked up with George Harrison of the Beatles a long time ago. And ever since then, it exploded into pop culture. Whereas my father, who played the sarod, really focused on the classical and our Ali Akbar College of Music and less collaborations with artists and things like that.

4:04but for whatever reasons it is. I'm biased, but I love surod so much, and I just want more and more people to be able to hear that. There is the deep thought of when we're listening to the surod, like you play and the tabla, the accompaniment of it, you're not just listening to the melodies. It goes beyond that. Can you just enlighten us a bit about that and what's going on on a spiritual level there? the way I view classical music at the core my father would say music is this music is not for entertainment but what I think he meant was this music is more than entertainment it can be entertaining but it goes beyond that and when I play there's such a sense of devotion and humbling yourself before this higher power and you're trying to channel that

5:07The origins of the sarod stretch its back centuries. A sit-down instrument cradled across the lap, it carries 25 strings whose shimmering slides are often accompanied by the dynamic beats of a doubler. Players draw on thousands of ragas, intricate melodies that in Vedic tradition descended from the heavens as pathways to the divine. Some people believe that for sure. They say that Lord Shiva and some type of godly form created this and taught it to the Munis, the saints and things like that. I don't really know where the music came from. I do believe it came from a sacred place, though. And there's a lot of ragas and things that are created, modern day ones that are made, obviously, by a man or a woman or a person.

5:58so many were and you know it's just the same thing as like reading religious texts did it come from God? did it come from man or woman? was it a natural occurrence that happened that they witnessed and then wrote down and called that is it worshipping the cosmos? what is it? I don't have the answers to any of that all I know is that the music feels very much like it was made with intention and that it has tremendous power when these vibrational frequencies are harnessed in the right way, which is ragas. And the combination of notes and the approach of the treatment of the notes and the treatment of the microtones and sonic essence that comes out of it, there's just tremendous power that's very profound and connected to something.

6:51And that's why I always call it the cosmos because that to me is everything.

7:04For decades, Ali Akbar Khan, or Khan Sab as he was affectionately known, was the prime exponent of the Surod. In India, he was seen as a national treasure, winning countless awards. He played in royal courts, composed for films and formed an infamous playing partnership with Siddharth Maestro Ravi Shankar. The people that heard him play say that when he performed, time seemed to stand still. He was kind of like a shaman, if you will. He was kind of like a priest conducting a sonic prayer, I like to say. And he would be doing this and the audience in turn would be experiencing this sonic reverberation in prayer, if you will, and go on their own transformative cathartic journeys through experiencing what he was doing.

7:57But he wasn't, you know, looking at everyone like, look at this and look at that I can do. It was a very introspective kind of thing, like a devotional practice. And so when I play, I do that same thing. I'm humbling myself before this energy, this power. Can you please come through me and heal me and everyone that's here and help us, guide us, work your magic. And that is definitely the cut, the cloth I was cut from, the ethos that I follow, the aesthetic, the philosophy from my grandfather and my father.

8:44That sense of musical sorcery didn't begin with Khansab. It was forged a generation earlier in a remote village in Bengal. To understand the weight Olam now carries, you have to meet the man who taught his father. Oluddin Khan is considered a musical saint. People literally pray to him. He spent the entirety of his life dedicated to the music. It's said that he could play over 200 instruments, but he was known most notably for his sarod playing and his violin playing. Some of the stories were that he would tie his hair to the ceiling so that when he would nod off and fall asleep during practice, he would be kind of jerked back to being awake, and that's all the sleep that he needed.

9:34Other ones are stories of him playing with one hand, he would eat these like chana or like garbanzo bean type of thing, and the other hand keep practicing. He would just never stop practicing. It was almost madness, you know. It was sadhana. It was a spiritual journey, practice, and his means of connecting to the divine. Sadhana is a kind of daily meditation. And then he passed that then to your father. So your father was his disciple. Yeah, and my father didn't have a say in the matter. That's the difference. My grandfather knew this was what he wanted to do, and my grandfather wanted to pass on this entire lifetime of hardship and struggle to obtain all of this and pass it all into an individual, which is something.

10:31And my father's life was very militaristic in the sense that what he had to do to learn that kind of material. He would say to us that he learned for 18 hours a day for the first 20 years of his life. And so it was very traumatic too. I mean, if you think about it in modern context, if someone was to do that, it wouldn't be allowed. I mean, my father tried to run away from home a couple of times actually. And the first time didn't work out. He got caught quite fast. But the second time, he ran away and changed his name to, what was it, Shiv Datta or something like that. And he went to Bombay, Mumbai.

11:14And to get there, the only way he could make money was playing. So he played his sarod and earned some money to get there. And then he got to play on the radio over there. And I believe this photo here is when he had run away. Black and white image on the wall behind me. Looks like a young boy. Yeah, in a photo booth. I think he was like maybe 16, perhaps. I don't even know, but something like that. But basically what had happened is the Maharaja was listening to a broadcast on all India radio, and it said the name of this person. He didn't know who this was, but he heard the music and immediately said, this is Ali Akbar.

11:49And he knew that he had gone from home, so they sent the guards, the royal guards, to go to Mumbai and pick him up and bring him back. foiled by his own playing by his own playing exactly but it made my father into the jewel you know that he was the diamond that he was it's just he trained him in that way and and that resulted in my father being one of the greatest musicians of all time and taking on all of this training for my grandfather

12:47So here in the school, I can't help but notice you have a beautiful stained glass of Saroswati, who is a Hindu deity. She's famous for sitting on the lotus flower with the sandur, the musical instrument she's holding. Sometimes it's sitar, sometimes it's vina, sometimes it's different things. We actually have some modern images made by artists and students of my father that actually she's holding the sarod too, which makes sense for our family. Absolutely. And that stained glass window was made by one of my father's old students. It's absolutely beautiful. And actually the walls here, you have many, many Hindu deities.

13:30But your father, of course, is Ali Akbar Khan. You are Alam Khan. Your grandfather is Al-Uadim Khan. Very Muslim names. But yet the iconography that I see all around me is very much Hindu. So what's going on there along with that faith element of yourselves? Yeah, so my grandfather and my father had pictures of all kinds of different religious figures. Jesus and Mary and Buddha and Koran is there, the Hindu deities, all kinds of stuff at their home shrines, temples, altars, that kind of thing. And also my grandfather used to be very devout. He would do all of his namaz, his Muslim Islamic prayers.

14:19He would also go to the Hindu temple. And he was kind of one of those people that brought together those two religions. It's still very much a very relevant thing to today, how much tension and divisiveness between these two religions. And my father and my grandfather really represented that harmony and union between the two. when my grandfather died both the Hindus and the Muslims they both attended his funeral he was buried ultimately but both celebrated and claimed him there's a lot of power and beauty in these different religions and beliefs I personally view myself as just being more spiritual we used to actually be Hindu, Brahmin class and we had to convert to Islam it's a whole long story But anyway, everything is welcomed.

15:13Every race, color, creed, it's all welcome at our school and in our lives. And I feel that's what the world really should do, too. Is there a sense that the music itself is the faith, is the religion by name, as it were? Yeah, I don't really like to be religious in anything. What I think about, what I feel is that this music is a almost like sonic vibrational religion frequency, if you will. And by playing it and that devotional element that we tap into and try to channel, like that leads back to the creator or the cosmos, nature, the energy. and my father would say that this music is the fastest way to reach that divinity whatever that means to you it could literally be energy because it is to me i believe in aspects of all religions and i but i believe that they all um can probably be related to energy and vibration i mean this universe was created with the sound right that's what they say something like that with the om or sa or whatever it is but that's a vibration and so we're channeling that we're all made up of vibrations and things like that so i don't think it i don't like to to say it's one thing or the other and that you know you have to believe in this to be able to partake not at all

16:55you're listening to the documentary from the bbc world service

17:02i'm rajeev gupta and for this week's heart and soul i'm in northern california meeting alam khan son of the indian classical maestro ali akbar khan khan spent the last four decades of his life in the USA, opening up the College of Music and marrying alum's mum, Mary, one of his early students and also an Indian classical musician. So I was always looking for something to really sink my teeth into. It was back in the hippie days and so some of us were allowed some freedom in our thoughts and education back then. So I decided to come here and I started with kata. Before Achilles found glory and Odysseus eventually found his way home, someone had to compose the Iliad and Odyssey.

17:52But was their credited author, Homer, even real? Hi, I'm Greg Jenner, host of You're Dead to Me, the comedy show that takes history seriously, and we are travelling back to 8th century BCE to trace the origins of the Iliad and Odyssey, epic poems that became backbones of Western literature. Join me and my fantastic guests as we unpack the stories of ancient Greek culture, war and triumph and have a laugh while we do it. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Bye.

18:25So classical dance. And I switched to tabla when I was 17. So I also studied with Zakir Hussain and from his father. I'm a disciple of his father. Ustad Al-Araqa is my guru. And then continued on. Shephan Chowdhury came. The names that you've mentioned there, for people that don't know, these are some of the greatest and most heralded Indian classical musicians. And you're just name dropping. But I mean, this was the esteem that you were under that tutelage at that time. So you came from a Catholic family, I believe. Originally, yes, my family was Catholic. They did break off from that. Do you remember the first time where the music touched your soul?

19:13I would say it was that first recording I ever heard. And it was Ustad Alareca playing a tabla solo. And it was just so stirring. And so I wanted to see it. So once I came, you see a whole room of people sit down. And they're restless, you know, they're getting settled. And then music starts. and there's an energy that gets created in the room if the performer has that kind of ability and the whole room is taken up with it and it's a collective experience that's, it's not just quiet. Indian music isn't actually quiet necessarily. You're allowed to groan and say, you know, and different feelings that are coming out, but it's a collective feeling.

19:58And then by the end, the way the music goes, it's fast-paced and everybody's energy is up high. And when it ends, you're just all part of this huge experience. And as you're leaving, everybody's looking at each other like, wow, what just happened? That's not something that happens everywhere where you go. It's unique. Kansab obviously wanted his sons to carry on the tradition. and Alam is a young boy growing up in the States. I wonder how much you were aware as the wife of this maestro who wants to impart this legacy onto the children. Was there ever a concern from you about, oh, well, maybe what happens if he doesn't want to do this?

20:44And was there ever a choice in the matter? He had the choice, Alam. My husband was pushed, so he did not push them. I did trickier things. I bought Alima a clone of a Fender Stratocaster when he was 10, and I gave him a tape of Jimi Hendrix. I said, oh, forget Indian music. I'm just going to do something different. I said to my husband, you just get his hands on strings. You know, let's just see. So he played electric guitar for a few years and then migrated back to listening more to his dad and realizing what he felt about his dad and his playing changed him. after Khansar passed there was a lot of pressure on on Alam to to carry that legacy I wonder what that was like for you as a mother to see that yeah that was hard um yeah uh he actually before my husband passed he was quite ill uh even before he passed Alam would go to India and you know keep the movement going and his dad would be calling him from home checking how is he doing and And so once his dad passed away, then Alam not only became the musical voice, but I asked him to do all the interviews.

22:02So he took over probably more than he should have. So, yeah, it was awful, actually. Hard time. You must be incredibly proud of him. Yeah, I am. And also, you know, his younger brother, Monik, is playing as well. and I feel more, rather than concerned, just more, I'm thrilled, you know, for them, that this music has taken them over like it did me and so many others that we know.

22:40Khan was a kidney patient and died aged 87 in 2009, teaching until his final breath. For Alam, there was little time to grieve. He felt he had to assume his father's role and the musical legacy that came with it. Chill out, you know. People don't like cemeteries, they get scared of them or something, but it's like, they're actually pretty peaceful places. What do you think about when you come here and spend some time with your father? Do you speak to him? Definitely, yeah, I definitely speak to him. Sometimes I just sit quietly. I often ask for guidance and help. And there's so many things I'd like to ask him now, which I knew there would always be.

23:22And I tried to ask all the questions before he passed, but it's not possible. And I knew things would come up. And certainly they have. As I grow and change, new questions present themselves. Hopefully he's helping those answers, you know, manifest in some way. What kind of things? Well, there's technical things about music and stuff like that, which you start to uncover the more you learn. But then also questions about what should one do creatively or tradition-wise or pushing the limits of things or even in just normal things, personal and life. What do you think about this aspect of growing up or this realization or coming to terms of acceptance with, you know, the range of things we all experience as humans to have a parent?

24:15Luckily, I have my mother. But, of course, you would like to ask both, you know. It's one of those things that you have this rich history, this tradition that started with your grandfather. can he pass that down to your father who was a messenger for him? And essentially, your father was teaching in a way that you would continue that tradition. But we're here in sunny San Francisco, a world away from the India that they grew up in. Yeah, you're never really going to be able to fully live up to the expectations that you set for yourself. you saw the level of depth that these musicians were able to reach and the power that they were able to harness in their music for me personally it's an ongoing thing but i i i have to look at what is the opportunity that i've been presented with with the upbringing that i've had which is unique instead of looking at that as a a hindrance or um however that could get in the way of maybe not being an Indian musician in India around all those things for my whole life, etc.

25:29No, I'm born here in the States and I'm mixed race, mixed culture, and have a plethora of influences, musical influences and cultural influences that have made up my whole identity. And why would I not create from that place and express that place? That's my story. How does doing what you're doing now impact spiritual nature? of the music? Do you think it still keeps that devotional integrity? I don't think I can not. I always make emotive music, you know, music that moves you, music that's for your soul, that kind of thing. And, you know, sometimes I make other things that are just kind of more fun or beats and stuff like that in production or whatever, which is just different.

26:19But I would say probably the classical music is the most potent, pure form of that. So yes, it's greatly influenced by the classical tradition, and I would say that is my lighthouse. My father is my lighthouse, his father before him. But I'm on the waves of creation, the ocean of creation, trying to discover. And sometimes if I feel like I get lost or things get convoluted or just kind of neither here nor there, I can always look and see that lighthouse and it can guide me back to the shore, you know, and that's kind of home, if you will. And then I personally feel it's important for me to express the classical, continue the classical, share the classical, because there is a profound depth and power and devotional way of life that can be shared.

27:18And it should, because it's greatly beneficial to people and to myself as a practitioner. But I also feel that it's my chance, it's my opportunity to accept and create from my experience. And I owe that to myself too.

27:40Heart and Soul was produced and presented by me, Rajiv Gupta.

28:20The End the Iliad and the Odyssey. And that's with Kyle Smith-Bino joining us. And then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist, discredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch. We'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Parrott. So if that sounds like your sort of thing, listen to You're Dead to Me wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Bye.