Ram Narayan

Ram Narayan (born 25 December 1927), often referred to with the title Pandit, is an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player.

Narayan was born near Udaipur and learned to play the sarangi at an early age.

He studied under sarangi players and singers and, as a teenager, worked as a music teacher and travelling musician.

Ram Narayan was born on 25 December 1927 in Amber village, near Udaipur in northwestern India.

His great-great-grandfather, Bagaji Biyavat, was a singer from Amber, and he and Narayan's great-grandfather, Sagad Danji Biyavat, sang at the court of the Maharana of Udaipur.

Narayan's grandfather, Har Lalji Biyavat, and father, Nathuji Biyavat, were farmers and singers, Nathuji played the bowed instrument dilruba, and Narayan's mother was a music lover.

Narayan's first language was Rajasthani and he learned Hindi and, later, English.

At an age of about six, he found a small sarangi left by the family's Ganga guru, a genealogist, and was taught a fingering technique developed by his father.

Narayan's father taught him, but was worried about the difficulty of playing the sarangi and its association with courtesan music, which gave the instrument a low social status.

After a year, Biyavat sought lessons for his son from sarangi player Mehboob Khan of Jaipur, but changed his mind when Khan told him Narayan would have to change his fingering technique.

Narayan's father later encouraged him to leave school and devote himself to playing the sarangi.

At about ten years of age, Narayan learned the basics of dhrupad, the oldest genre of Hindustani classical music, by studying and imitating the practice of sarangi player Uday Lal of Udaipur, a student of dhrupad singers Allabande and Zakiruddin Dagar.

After Uday Lal died of old age, Narayan met travelling singer Madhav Prasad, originally of Lucknow, who had performed at the court of Maihar.

With Prasad, Narayan enacted the ganda bandhan, a traditional ceremony of acceptance between a teacher and his pupil, in which Narayan swore obedience in exchange for being maintained by Prasad.

He served Prasad and was taught in khyal, the predominant genre of Hindustani classical music, but returned to Udaipur after four years to teach music school.

Prasad later visited Narayan and convinced him to resign his position and dedicate his time to improvement as a musician, although the idea of giving up a steady life was not well received by Narayan's family.

He stayed with Prasad and travelled to several Indian states until Prasad fell ill and advised him to learn from singer Abdul Wahid Khan in Lahore.

Following Prasad's death in Lucknow, Narayan enacted the ganda bandhan with another teacher who gave him lessons, but soon left for Lahore and never performed the ritual again.

Narayan travelled to Lahore in 1943 and auditioned for the local All India Radio (AIR) station as a singer, but the station's music producer, Jivan Lal Mattoo, noticed grooves in Narayan's fingernails: sarangis are played by pressing the fingernails sideways against three playing strings, which strains the nails.

Mattoo instead employed Narayan as a sarangi player.

Traditionally, the sarangi is supposed to play after the singer and imitate the vocal performance, and play in the space between phrases.

Mattoo advised Narayan and helped him contact khyal singer Abdul Wahid Khan, a rigorous teacher under whom Narayan learned four ragas through singing lessons.

Narayan was allowed sporadic solo performances on AIR and began to consider a solo career.

All India Radio, Lahore, hired Narayan as an accompanist for vocalists in 1944.

He moved to Delhi following the partition of India in 1947, but wishing to go beyond accompaniment and frustrated with his supporting role, Narayan moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema.

After the partition of India in 1947, Narayan moved to Delhi and played at the local AIR station.

His work for popular singers increased his repertoire and knowledge of styles.

Narayan played with the classical singers Omkarnath Thakur, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Hirabai Badodekar, and Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, and he accompanied singer Amir Khan in 1948, when Khan sang for the first time at AIR Delhi following the partition.

As an accompanist for vocalists, Narayan showed his own talent and came to the foreground.

Singers of the city complained that he was not a dependable accompanist and too assertive, but he maintained he wanted to keep vocalists in tune and inspire them in a cordial contest.

Other tabla (percussion) players and singers, including Omkarnath Thakur and Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, expressed admiration for Narayan's playing.

Narayan became frustrated with his supporting role for vocalists and moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work independently in film music and recording.

He recorded three solo 78 rpm gramophone records for the British HMV Group in 1950 and an early ten-inch LP album in Mumbai in 1951, but the album was not in demand.

The Mumbai film industry offered a good salary and obscurity for work that would have lowered his stature among classical musicians.

For the next 15 years he played and composed songs for films, including Adalat, Gunga Jumna, Humdard, Kashmir Ki Kali, Madhumati, Milan, Mughal-e-Azam, and Noor Jehan.

Narayan became a concert solo artist in 1956 and has since performed at the major music festivals of India.

After sitar player Ravi Shankar successfully performed in Western countries, Narayan followed his example.

He recorded solo albums and made his first international tour in 1964 to America and Europe with his older brother Chatur Lal, a tabla player who had toured with Shankar in the 1950s.

Narayan taught Indian and foreign students and performed, frequently outside India, into the 2000s.

He was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2005.