Vistar: Musical Cosmopolitanism

Virtual

Born from the fusion of Persian and Indian cultures, Hindustani musical cosmopolitanism runs deep. This episode addresses cosmopolitanism in the life and work of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, India’s preeminent sarod artist and a lifelong traveler across artistic, religious, and geographic boundaries.

The series of Chicago Dialogues is being hosted by UChicago Center in Delhi in association with Prohor.in.

Speaker Profiles

Padma Vibhushan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan Bangash

Padma Vibhushan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan Bangash is an eminent Indian Sarod player. For his great achievements in taking the Sarod places, he is popularly known as the ‘Sarod Samrat’. Born into a family of classical musicians and Sarod players, Amjad Ali Khan went on to modify the instrument and often experimented with it, and this helped him outshine many stalwarts. He has taken Sarod to great heights by collaborating with many western musicians. He is also credited with spreading the knowledge about this classical instrument all over the world. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan continues to teach Sarod to students across the globe. He gave his first recital at age six. His musical heritage combines his illustrious family heritage of sarod playing with the tradition of instrumental music from Tansen and his disciples. He has also composed many ragas of his own. Amjad Ali Khan has received several prestigious national and international awards including Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan. 

Anna Christine Schultz 

Anna Christine Schultz is Associate Professor of Music and the Humanities, at the University of Chicago. Her research centers around in India music’s power to activate profound religious experiences that in turn shape other identities. Her monograph, “Singing a Hindu Nation” (Oxford University Press, 2013) charts the nationalist interventions of western Indian devotional performers from the late 19th through early 21st centuries. Her second book, “Songs of Translation: Bene Israel Performance from India to Israel” (under contract with Oxford University Press), explores gender and cultural translation in the devotional songs of the Bene Israel, a Marathi-speaking Jewish people from western India. Dr Schultz is the co-recipient of the H. Colin Slim Award by the American Musicological Society, and her research has been supported by fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Hellman Foundation, Fulbright-Hays, the American Association of University Women, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, the University of Illinois, and Stanford University.