Ram Narayan (IPA:[raːmnaːˈɾaːjəɳ]; 25 December 1927 – 9 November 2024), often referred to with the titlePandit, was an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrumentsarangi as a solo concert instrument inHindustani classical music and became the first internationally successfulsarangi player.
Narayan was born nearUdaipur and learned to play thesarangi at an early age. He studied undersarangi players and singers and, as a teenager, worked as a music teacher and travelling musician.All India Radio inLahore hired Narayan as an accompanist for vocalists in 1944. Narayan relocated toDelhi following thepartition of India in 1947, and moved toMumbai in 1949 to work inIndian cinema.
Narayan became a concert solo artist in 1956, performing at the major music festivals of India. Narayan recorded solo albums and made his first international tour in 1964 to America and Europe with his older brotherChatur Lal, atabla (hand drum) player who had toured withRavi Shankar in the 1950s. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, thePadma Vibhushan, in 2005.
Ram Narayan was born on 25 December 1927 in Amber village, nearUdaipur in northwestern India.[2][3] His great-great-grandfather, Bagaji Biyavat, was a singer from Amber, and he and Narayan's great-grandfather, Sagad Danji Biyavat, sang at the court of theMaharana of Udaipur.[3] Narayan's grandfather, Har Lalji Biyavat, and father, Nathuji Biyavat, were farmers and singers, Nathuji played the bowed instrumentdilruba, and Narayan's mother was a music lover.[4]
Narayan's first language wasRajasthani and he learnedHindi and, later, English.[5][6] At the age of six or so he found a smallsarangi left by the family'sGanga guru, a genealogist, and was taught afingering technique developed by his father.[7][8] Narayan's father taught him, but was worried about the difficulty of playing thesarangi and its association withcourtesan music, which gave the instrument a low social status.[4][9] After a year, Biyavat sought lessons for his son fromsarangi player Mehboob Khan ofJaipur, but changed his mind when Khan told him Narayan would have to change his fingering technique.[8] Narayan's father later encouraged him to leave school and devote himself to playing thesarangi.[7]
At about ten years of age, Narayan learned the basics ofdhrupad, the oldest genre ofHindustani classical music, by studying and imitating the practice ofsarangi player Uday Lal of Udaipur, a student ofdhrupad singers Allabande and Zakiruddin Dagar.[8][10] After Uday Lal died of old age, Narayan met travelling singer Madhav Prasad, originally ofLucknow, who had performed at the court ofMaihar.[11][12] With Prasad, Narayan enacted theganda bandhan, a traditional ceremony of acceptance between a teacher and his pupil, in which Narayan swore obedience in exchange for being maintained by Prasad.[13]
He served Prasad and was taught inkhyal, the predominant genre of Hindustani classical music, but returned to Udaipur after four years to teach music school.[10][11] Prasad later visited Narayan and convinced him to resign his position and dedicate his time to improvement as a musician, although the idea of giving up a steady career was not well received by Narayan's family.[11][12] He stayed with Prasad and travelled to several Indian states until Prasad fell ill and advised him to learn from singerAbdul Wahid Khan inLahore.[14] Following Prasad's death in Lucknow, Narayan enacted theganda bandhan with another teacher who gave him lessons, but soon left for Lahore and never performed the ritual again.[13]
Narayan travelled to Lahore in 1943 and auditioned for the localAll India Radio (AIR) station as a singer, but the station's music producer, Jivan Lal Mattoo, noticed grooves in Narayan's fingernails:[14]sarangis are played by pressing the fingernails sideways against three playing strings, which strains the nails.[15] Mattoo instead employed Narayan as asarangi player.[14] Traditionally, thesarangi is supposed to play after the singer and imitate the vocal performance, and play in the space between phrases.[16] Mattoo advised Narayan and helped him contactkhyal singerAbdul Wahid Khan, a rigorous teacher under whom Narayan learned fourragas through singing lessons.[9][11][17] Narayan was allowed sporadic solo performances on AIR and began to consider a solo career.[18]
After thepartition of India in 1947, Narayan moved toDelhi and played at the local AIR station.[9] His work for popular singers increased his repertoire and knowledge of styles.[19] Narayan played with the classical singersOmkarnath Thakur,Bade Ghulam Ali Khan,Hirabai Badodekar, andKrishnarao Shankar Pandit, and he accompanied singerAmir Khan in 1948, when Khan sang for the first time at AIR Delhi following the partition.[20][21] As an accompanist for vocalists, Narayan showed his own talent and came to the foreground.[18] Singers of the city complained that he was not a dependable accompanist and too assertive, but he maintained he wanted to keep vocalists in tune and inspire them in a cordial contest.[22] Othertabla (percussion) players and singers, including Omkarnath Thakur and Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, expressed admiration for Narayan's playing.[23]
Narayan became frustrated with his supporting role for vocalists and moved toMumbai in 1949 to work independently in film music and recording.[24][25] He recorded three solo 78 rpmgramophone records forHis Master's Voice in 1950 and an early ten-inchLP album in Mumbai in 1951, but the album was not in demand.[26][27][28] The Mumbai film industry offered a good salary and obscurity for work that would have lowered his stature among classical musicians.[29] For the next 15 years he played and composed songs for films, includingAdalat,Gunga Jumna,Humdard,Kashmir Ki Kali,Madhumati,Milan,Mughal-e-Azam, andNoor Jehan.[30][31][32][33] For "Chalte Chalte" of 1972 filmPakeezah, composerGhulam Mohammad made Narayan give 21 takes for the desired effect.[34] Narayan was considered a desired choice of film music directorO. P. Nayyar.[31]
Narayan performed in Afghanistan in 1952 and in China in 1954 and was well received in both countries.[35] His first solo concert at a 1954 music festival in theCowasji Jehangir Hall, Mumbai, was cut short when an impatient audience, waiting for performances by famous artists, drove him from the stage.[28][36] Narayan pondered giving up thesarangi and becoming a singer.[36] He later regained confidence, performed solo for smaller crowds, and was favourably received in his second attempt to play solo for a Mumbai music festival in 1956.[36] He has since performed at the major music festivals of India.[19] Narayan later gave up accompaniment; this decision carried a financial risk because interest in solosarangi was not yet substantial.[37]
Aftersitar playerRavi Shankar successfully performed in Western countries, Narayan followed his example.[38] He recorded solo albums and made his first international tour in 1964 to America and Europe with his older brotherChatur Lal, atabla player who had toured with Shankar in the 1950s.[25][39] The European tour included performances in France and Germany (sponsored by theGoethe-Institut) and at theCity of London Festival, England.[40]
Beginning in the 1960s, Narayan often taught and gave concerts outside of India.[25] On his Western tours he encountered interest in thesarangi because of its similarity to the cello and violin.[41] Thetabla playerSuresh Talwalkar became a frequent accompanist for Narayan in the late 1960s.[42] The music of Ram Narayan and Chatur Lal is featured in the 1965 anti-war filmGood Times, Wonderful Times by American filmmakerLionel Rogosin.[43] Narayan continued to perform and record in India and abroad for the next decades and his recordings appeared on Indian, American, and European labels.[25] During the early 1980s he typically spent months each year visiting Western nations.[35] A 1989 UK performance ofBhairavi was covered by theKronos Quartet on their 2009 albumFloodplain. Narayan performed less frequently in the 2000s and rarely in the 2010s.[44][45]
Narayan's style is characteristic ofHindustani classical music, but his choice of solo instrument and his background of learning from teachers outside his community were not common for the genre.[25][46] He stated that he aimed to please the audience and create a feeling of harmony, and expected the audience to reciprocate by reacting to his playing.[47]
Narayan's performances were strung together from the meditative and measuredalap (non-metrical introduction) andjor (performance with pulse) indhrupad style, followed by a faster and less reservedgat section (composition with rhythmic pattern provided by thetabla) inkhyal style.[48] He experimented with a style ofjhala (performance with rapid pulse) developed byBundu Khan, but considered it more appropriate for plucked instruments and stopped performing it.[49]
Thegat section included one or two parts with compositions.[50] When he used twogats, the first one tended to be at a slow or medium tempo, and the second one was faster; thegats were usually performed in the 16-beat rhythmic cycletintal.[48][51] Narayan often completed performances withragas associated withthumri (a popular light classical genre), which are referred to asmishra (Sanskrit: mixed) because they allow for additional notes, or with adhun (song based on folk music).[48]
Narayan practiced and taught using a limited number ofpaltas, exercises in a small scale range that are used to prepare playing different numbers of notes per bow.[52] Derived frompaltas are lengthy note patterns calledtans, which contain characteristic "melodic shapes" and were used by Narayan for fast playing.[53] He used his left (fingering) hand for runs and to play an extended melodic range, and his right (bowing) hand for rhythmic accentuations.[19] Narayan's fingering technique, his low right hand position, keeping the bow in a close to right angle to the string, and his use of the full bow length, were unusual amongsarangi players.[54]
Magriel described four stylistic choices by Narayan that deviate from tradition and were not commonly adopted bysarangi players: extendedalap without accompaniment, replacing the usual fast section of thealap (jhala) with a set oftans, performinggats influenced by an instrumental playing style while the fixed composition is based on vocal performance, and a fast repetition of scales that expands the sound into the higher and lower register as a stylistic device.[55]
Narayan was associated with theKiranagharana (stylistic school of Kirana) throughAbdul Wahid Khan, but his performance style was not strongly connected to it.[56] Most of Narayan's compositions were from the singing repertoire of his teachers and were modified and adapted to thesarangi.[50] He also created original compositions and in performance varied those he was taught.[57] Narayan did not favor the creation of newragas, but developed compoundragas, including those ofNand withKedar andKafi withMalhar.[57]
Narayan used asarangi obtained from Uday Lal and built inMeerut in the 1920s or 1930s in his concerts and recordings.[58] He played on foreign harp strings to produce a clearer tone.[59] Narayan experimented with modifications to his instrument and added a fourth string, but removed it because it hindered playing.[60] In the 1940s, he exchangedgut with steel for the first string and found it easier to play, but reverted to using only gut strings because the steel string altered the sound.[60]
Narayan increased the status of thesarangi to that of a modern concert solo instrument, made it known outside of India, and was the firstsarangi player with international success, an example later followed bySultan Khan.[19][61][62] Narayan's simplified fingering technique allowed for glide (meend)[63] and affected the modernsarangi concert style, as aspects of his playing and tone creation were taken up bysarangi players from Narayan's recordings.[5]
Narayan taught at theAmerican Society for Eastern Arts and theNational Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai in the 1970s and 1980s, where he gave the first master class forsarangi.[25][64][65] Narayan privately trainedsarangi players, including his daughterAruna Narayan, his grandson Harsh Narayan, and Vasanti Srikhande.[66][67][68] He also taughtsarod players,[69][70] including his sonBrij Narayan, as well as vocalists[71][72][73] and a violinist.[74] In 2002, he taught 15 Indian students and more than 500 students in the United States and Europe had studied with him.[75]Indian music in performance: a practical introduction, released in 1980 by Neil Sorrell in cooperation with Narayan, was described as "one of the best presentations on modern North Indian music practice" by Hans Neuhoff inDie Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.[19]
My mission was to obliterate the blemish which the sarangi carried due to its social origins. I hope I have succeeded in this.[20]
Ram Narayan, quoted inThe Indian Express
Narayan argued that appreciation of thesarangi and him came only after acknowledgment by the Western audience.[76] He attributed the lack ofsarangi students to a lack of competent teachers and said that the Indian government should assist in preserving the instrument.[76][77] The Pt (Pandit) Ram Narayan Foundation in Mumbai awards scholarships tosarangi students.[78] Narayan has stated he was skeptical thesarangi would survive and said he would never give up promoting the instrument.[44][79]
Narayan performing with his daughter Aruna (far right) at theRoyal Albert Hall,London, in 2009.
Narayan shared a close relationship with his older brother,Chatur Lal, who learned thetabla primarily to accompany his brother'ssarangi playing.[39] Lal studied undertabla teachers in his youth, but later turned to farming.[39] Lal visited Narayan in 1948 in Delhi after Narayan had become a professionalsarangi player, and Narayan convinced Lal to work as atabla player at the local AIR station.[39]
Lal toured with instrumentalistsRavi Shankar andAli Akbar Khan in the 1950s, and helped popularise thetabla in Western countries.[91] When Lal died in October 1965, Narayan had difficulty performing and struggled with alcoholism, but overcame the addiction after two years.[39] Narayan assisted his brother's four children after their father's death.[32] Chatur Lal's son, Charanjit Lal Biyavat, is atabla player and has toured Europe with Narayan.[92]
Narayan's wife Sheela, a homemaker, came to Mumbai in the 1950s; they had four children.[28][32][93] She died prior to 2001.[67] His oldest son,sarod playerBrij Narayan, was born on 25 April 1952 in Udaipur, and his daughterAruna Narayan was born in 1959 in Mumbai.[69][94] She was the first woman to give a solosarangi concert and emigrated to Canada in 1984.[66][95] Another son, Shiv, who is a year younger than Aruna, learned to play thetabla, and toured Australia with his father.[96] Brij Narayan's son,Harsh Narayan, plays thesarangi.[75] In 2009, Narayan performed atBBC'sThe Proms in theRoyal Albert Hall,London, with Aruna, and he played at the 2010Sawai Gandharva Music Festival,Pune, with Harsh.[97][98]
Narayan was aHindu and had stated "music is my religion", arguing that there was no better access to divinity than music.[47] He died on 9 November 2024, at the age of 96, in his residence inBandra, Mumbai. His funeral was performed with state honors.[99][100]
^"राष्ट्रीय कालिदास सम्मान" [Rashtriya Kalidas Samman] (in Hindi). Department of Public Relations of Madhya Pradesh. 2006. Archived fromthe original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved9 May 2010.
^Mishra, Ambarish (5 February 2016). "State accolade for man who brought sarangi out of kothas & on to stage".The Times of India. The Times Group. p. 10.
^Harvey, Jane (1995). "The sarangi today".Raga Bairagi Bhairav, Raga Shuddh Sarang, Raga Madhuvanti (CD booklet). Aruna Narayan. United Kingdom:Nimbus Records. p. 5. NI 5447.
Roy, Ashok (2004).Music Makers: Living Legends of Indian Classical Music. Rupa & Co.ISBN978-81-291-0319-2.
Slawek, Stephen (2000). "Hindustani Instrumental Music". In Arnold, Alison (ed.).The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent. Vol. 5. Taylor and Francis.ISBN978-0-8240-4946-1.
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