Riot ArtistsAmjad Ali Khan & Sons to Perform at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremonies
Posted on December 4, 2014
Nobel Peace Prize Concert organizers announced that Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan will perform at the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway on December 10 as well as the Nobel Peace Prize Concert on December 11.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai, chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for “their struggle against the oppression of children and young people, and for the right of all children to education.”
It is a particular honor to have Amjad Ali Kham performing in both the Prize Ceremony as well as the Concert at the specific request of Kailash Satyarthi. Each of this year’s laureates will participate in both events, which are attended by the Norwegian Royal Family, the Norwegian Nobel Committee and figures of global importance.
“We are thrilled to have these great artists,” said Geir Lundestad, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. “This year we will focus more than ever before on the Prize winners and will showcase music from their home countries.” The Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony is held each year on December 10 and includes speeches and artistic performances, in addition to the awarding of the Nobel diploma and Nobel medal. This is followed the next evening by the Nobel Peace Prize Concert which is a musical celebration featuring artists from around the globe.
The Nobel Peace Prize is the most prestigious award in the world, honoring icons such as Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Barack Obama, Kofi Annan, Al Gore and other prominent individuals and organizations.
Sarod Maestros Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan + Ayaan Ali Khan @ GOOGLE
Posted on October 13, 2014
Amjad Ali Khan is one of the undisputed masters of the music world. For many, he takes on a celestial avatar when he is playing the Sarod. Born to Sarod icon Ustad Haafiz Ali khan, he gave his first performance at the age of six. Over the course of his career, he has delivered his music in a flexible instrument line that is vocal in its expressiveness. He has reinvented the technique of Sarod playing which today is distinct in its nomenclature. He has won numerous accolades including a Grammy nomination, the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum and has performed at venues world over like the Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. His sons, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, are also very talented and celebrated Sarod players.Today, they are considered as one of the finest Sarod players and have obtained a very special place for themselves among music enthusiasts across the world. They are an inspiration for the younger generation of musicians.
Dakhabrakha, Debademba & Amjad Ali Khan at WOMAD
Posted on August 11, 2014
Of West African heritage and based in Paris, Debademba feature the powerful voice and riveting stage presence of Mohamed Diaby, and the remarkable bluesy fingerwork of veteran guitarist, Abdoulaye Traore. They start off as a very stylish, contemporary Malian roots band with some jazzy overtones and great impassioned ballads before, half-way through the set, exploding into rock’n’roll riffs, with Diaby channelling Howling Wolf and Robert Plant in an utterly compelling and highly danceable affray.
Some parts of Amjad Ali Khan’s performance immediately afterwards were similarly meditative, while other sections were fast and furious as the master sarod player jousted with his two sons over propulsive percussion.
Then came the most compelling hour of the whole festival. Three women in white dresses and tall furry stovepipe hats sitting in a row, one playing cello and other two on percussion. To their right, a balding nondescript man in an embroidered jacket with a concertina and hand-drum. This was DakhaBrakha from the Ukraine, a one-time visitor to our own, late, lamented Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures. The women sing, their voices wild, free and magnificent; the cello sets up a riff like heavy metal, and the percussion marches like a shamanic army. The big crowd in the tent is utterly bewitched. Suddenly, the percussion stops and the male figure plays a gentle tune on the melodeon and then accompanies it with the sweetest falsetto voice. This beautiful piece continues until the percussion and cello crash back in and he roars and growls like a demented being over the top of it until it all quietens again and he is back to a sweet falsetto. Extraordinary, surprising and inspired. The show ends with a huge roar of approval and a mass waving of Ukrainian flags.