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 The brilliant sarod player
Brij Narayan is the son of the great sarangi
maestro Pandit Ram Narayan. Over the years he has
developed his own personality and style that is
marked with a deep sense of melody combined with
virtuosity.
Born in Udaipur,
Rajasthan, on April 25, 1952, to none other than
the greatest ever sarangi player, Pandit Ram
Narayan, Brij Narayan was fascinated by the
sarod or rather fell in love with it at age
four, at a concert by the great maestro Ustad
Ali Akbar Khan or `Khansahib'. He started his
music lessons as a toddler under his father Pt
Ram Narayan and his uncle Pandit Chatur Lal, the
tabla wizard. (His keen sense of rhythm is
attributed to his association with the latter).
At age eight, Brij Narayan started learning the
techniques of the sarod from USTAD ALI AKBAR
KHAN. His first public performance was at age 12
in the Sapru House, Delhi, Accompanied on the
tabla by Chaturlalji. This concert was attended
by the likes of Ustaad Ali Akbar Khan, Pt Ravi
Shankar and of course, Pandit Ram Narayan. Ustad
Ali Akbar Khan left India for foreign shores and
young Brij Narayan learnt music from his father,
his true guru. It was 1967, fifteen year old
Brij Narayan stunned the nation, being adjudged
the finest instrumentalist if the All India
Radio Music Competition and was Unanimously
named SCHOLAR of the Bharatiya Sangeet Sabha.
The same year Brij Narayan went to Afghanistan
as a ICCR cultural delegate. In his European
debut in 1972, Pt. Brij Narayan mesmerised the
german and international audience at the Munich
Olympics, probably the first Indian Musician to
perform solo at the Olympics. Since then, he has
made extensive tours of Europe, the USA, Russia,
The Middle East, Asia and Australia. |
