In 1997, the BBC hosted a series of concerts to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of India's independence from Britain. These concerts were hosted by
Mark Tully, at the time the New Delhi station chief for the BBC. Included in
the series are two performances that appear here: a vocal recital by
Ajoy Chakraborty and this recital by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his two sons.
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has been in the forefront of sarod players for many years. Unlike his father, he has embraced the recording media and modern technology. His web page demonstrates his embrace of modern means of promoting classical music. He is joined by Shafaat Ahmed Khan on tablas. The first piece is in a raga he created to honor Mahatma Gandhi. For the piece he jokingly refers to as "Tigalbandi" (from jugalbandi, duet), he is joined by his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash. The final piece was an impromptu encore.
These pieces were recorded from a radio broadcast in mono. They were encoded at 96 kbps mono, which is the rough equivalent of 192 kbps stereo. They appear here by the kind permission of the BBC and the family/webmaster of Amjad Ali Khan.