What a surprise, well, two surprises really. I was sitting at home on Thursday, minding my own business, for once, when I received a mystery email from Sherin Sara Alex at South Asian Arts asking if I would like to join them for a concert at Seven Arts in Chapel Allerton the following evening. After checking my diary to see if I had any hot dates lined up, I accepted.
The eleventh hour approach was because this concert had been hastily organised when the late availability of the performers presented itself. In her introduction on the night, Keranjeet Kaur Virdee MBE, the CEO of South Asian Arts, said that she had been wanting to present this artist for some time and the stars aligned enabling her to do so. The reasons for this ambition was that the musician in question, Nabeel Khan, is a young man who plays an instrument called the sarangi, as did his father and a further seven generations before him. He is also a composer, actor and singer-songwriter.
Keranjeet Kaur Virdee MBE
Mr Khan began playing the sarangi when he was five years old, hardly surprising given his pedigree, since when he has starred in concerts all over the world, mainly in Europe and the Middle East. His first performance was at Little Theatre Group in New Delhi when he was eight and his first international appearance was in Norway at the Oslo Mela Festival in 2015. Tonight, however, marked his first ever UK solo concert.
There was only one negative to the evening, and that was nothing to do with the performance, but the audience. Mrs Virdee had asked that we all turn off our mobile phones so as not to disturb other concertgoers with the electronic glow. After a few minutes it was obvious that the request was being ignored so she took to the stage again and said that if anyone wanted to video the show they were welcome to do so but should go to the back of the auditorium, a very generous gesture. Sadly, after a minute or two, a person in the front row obviously thought that this applied to everyone but them and started videoing the rest of the concert. I could not believe the disrespect toward someone who had spent so much time and effort in organising what turned out to be the concert of a lifetime.
Now back to the music.
Nabeel Khan introduced himself and gave us a description of his stringed instrument which is made from a single piece of wood. Its name translates as ‘hundred colours’, referring to its adaptability enabling it to be used in many styles of music, hence the name of the show. He utilises many aspects of its versatility, and his, by playing everything from Indian classical through jazz to pop. He described it as having human form, which it did when held vertically, as long as the human was shaped like Kim Kardashian! The anthropomorphism continues with the three hollow chambers of the instrument being referred to as the pet (stomach), chaati (chest) and magaj (brain).
The strings comprise three melody strings and 35-37 sympathetic strings. The instrument is played using a bow but, rather than the notes being produced by using the pads of the finger tips, the cuticles are employed. I was trying hard to see how this was done and it seemed to me that the fingers are either positioned behind the strings or they are bent over. Whatever the technique, the sound is wonderful.
Jeevan Singh, left, and Nabeel Khan
He did cause some amusement when, during his introduction, he said that he had originally wanted to play the tabla, but his parents advised him to stick to the sarangi as there are lots of tabla players but very few masters of his instrument. The comment was not wasted on his fellow performer, Jeevan Singh, who was sitting on the stage – tuning his tabla!
Jeevan Singh is a tabla player from Leeds and epitomises the ethos of South Asian Arts whose strap line is ‘Preserving the traditional, facilitating the modern’, which they do by allowing young, up and coming artists like Mr Singh, to perform with more established virtuosi such as the star of the night. The programme of music was also in that mould with the classical piece, Raag Saugandh followed by Dhun in Rajasthani Raag Mand by Ustad Sabri Khan Saheb and Nabeel Khan and The Arrival of Sultan, which the performer wrote whilst sitting in the desert late at night. He finished the set with a rendition of the music from Pirates of the Caribbean. How diverse do you want?
Nabeel Khan was also the epitome of cool, with a brilliant white outfit topped with matching jacket inlaid with small rhinestones. Absolutely immaculate.
Mrs Virdee had told us that there would be no interval, but that she had a surprise for us later which would require a short break in proceedings.
The surprise was the presence in the audience of Nabeel’s father, Nasir Khan, who took his son’s place on stage to perform a classical raag. Mrs Virdee explained that Mr Khan senior was a highly respected exponent of the sarangi and it was an honour to have both of the musicians on the same stage. Nasir Khan spoke in his mother tongue so I was unable to follow the narrative, but his playing was sublime and did the talking for him.
L-R Jeevan Singh, Nasir Khan and Nabeel Khan.
I was mesmerised by the different techniques employed by Nadeem Khan and Nasir Khan to play the sarangi, I don’t know whether it is a generational thing or personal preference, but Nadeem stood the instrument on the floor, whereas Nasir removed his socks and used the upturned toes of one foot to steady it.
To see how the sarangi is played by Nabeel Khan, please have a look at this short video, it is incredible https://www.facebook.com/nabeelsarangi/videos/2798659937036511/?locale=ar_AR&paipv=0&eav=AfZ92SfjX7MLxvSeJiD9Cni3xpIr2DoeuDSeMhuEjOqIJdJtDYF-h9IV5RL7nQ51seI&_rdr
If you don’t think you will like Raag then have a look at this, it’s Titanic! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-LoqaF7kUQ
It was a privilege to witness this concert by three special musicians and, as the old saying goes, you can only do something for the first time once, so it really was a unique night.
To see what events South Asian Arts have in the near future please go to https://www.saa-uk.org/
For more details of what Seven Arts have on offer it is http://www.sevenleeds.co.uk/
As we were told to turn off our mobile phones, I would like to credit official photographer Barbara Cardone with the photographs of the artists in concert and at the end. The feature image was provided by South Asian Arts and the photograph of Keranjeet Kaur Virdee MBE was taken by Stan Graham – before the curfew!
Tyke It To The Limit 