I have know Ghulam Sabir since 1970 when he was my "guru-bhai", also learning from my first teacher Ustad Sabri Khan. He was the son of the great old-style sarangiya Ustad Sidiqqi Ahmed Khan of Moradabad who had sent him to Sabri Khan, probably as a way of getting a foothold into the Delhi music scene while also polishing his sarangi technique. When I was doing my sarangi research in the 1990s, Sidiqqi Ahmed had come to live with Ghulam Sabir in his house in Basti Kwasa, Mir Dard in the Minto Road area of Delhi and both were teaching Ghulam Sabir's three sons, particularly the one who plays sarangi, Murad Ali. Murad Ali has gone on to become one of the most respected sarangi players of the younger generation. Ghulam Sabir has been a staff artist at All India Radio's light music vibhag and also at Doordarshan (national TV).
The first videos here are from a visit to his intensely musical house on June 1, 1997. These are jugalbandi pieces played together with Ghulam Sabir's son Murad Ali. Shiraz and Feroz Ahmed Khan, his talented nephews, listen throughout. Aman Ali Khan, Muradbhai's brother accompanied on tabla.
Ghulam Sabir started with rag Gaud Sarang:
Then came Miyanki Malhar
The session ended with a light piece in Mishra Kaushik Dhani:
The next video is "off topic"...but not really. The multi-cacetted life of music includes many wonders. In this family one of them is pigeon keeping. They had a huge collections of pigeons on the roof including several rare breeds. I myselfonce brought them a "Saharanpruri Hara" (A green pigeon from Saharanpur) from the bazzaar in Old Delhi. Here we see the family engaged in the chores and joys of pigeon keeping. The summer after this was very hot, and sadly several of the birds did not survive.
Youngsters of the family
NEW March 2026:
Shiraz Ahmed and Feroz Afmed Khan were the sons of Ghulam Sabir's sister. At the time they were being trained in vocal music by Ghulam Sabir and also by their maternal grandfather Siddiqi Ahmed Khan. Thet were very impresive and very promising. They were deadly serious when involved in musical situations but funny jokers in other situations,dpoing things like communicating in "pe-boli"—a bit like pig Latin. Here is an extended sitting with them, together with Ghulam Sabir and Murad Ali. This came directly after the above performance of Mishra Kaushi Dhani. Here they sailed through some of their repertoire:
rag Shuddh Sarang
rag Purvi alap
rag Khamaj sargam bandish and bandish ki thumri
ag Bageshri tarana, and ektal and teental bandishes
tag Bhairav alap and jhaptal bandish, teental bandish, another teental bandish with sargam tans
bandish ki thumri in a variant of Kafi
There was also some talk about Ghulam Sabir's style of teaching. Enjoy!
