Ustad Roshan Ali Khan, a superb sarangi player from Bihar, was living in Calcutta where he was a staff artist at All India Radio, Calcutta, when I met him in July 1997. I filmed him and also his lessons to his young children who were among the stars of my early efforts at making films about musical enculturation.
Born in Patna in 1944, Roshan Ali Khan is the son of the tabla player Mohammed Dilavar Khan. He learned sarangi from his maternal grandfather Ata Hussain Khan, the son of one Bahadur Khan. Roshan Ali was a sweet and soft-spoken man, perhaps spmewhat morose.
My first visit to Roshan Ali's flat was on September 11, 1997. He started by playing rag Todi.
This was followed by a short taste of Nauhar Todi (or some other similarly beautiful rare rag).
Then came a very Mishra Bhairavi:
An interlude of Roshan Ali Khan's son practising on hid father's sarangi—uninspired and quite rudimentary.
Then Roshan Ali Khan played a chaiti and a kajri:
His son told an involved amd I suspect very funny stoty. I would be grateful to anyone who could translate this story. Then Roshan Ali Khan played Des:
The last piece he played was a thumri. He did not tell me the words or rag affilliation. We had a long relaxed discussion afterwards. He told me that he never has the words of bandishes in his mind at the time of playing—just the svara. I learned a bit about his life and feelings about music and sarangi playing.
The next group of videos below are from a visit to his flat in Calcutta on July 18, 1997 .The first piece is rag Patdeep, preceded by tuning:
Followed by a hori in rag Kafi:
Followed by thumri-style Bhairavi:
