5 Ragas (Sarangis & Tabla)

The sarangi is in many ways a dying instrument. A once vital part of Hindustani classical music, the years of practice needed to master the difficult, fretless instrument (not to mention the massive pain and bleeding due to rubbing the cuticles against the string as the main method to eke out notes) have turned off many young students. However, there are still the great masters and their disciples, and Ustad Sabri Khan ranks at the top of that ladder. Here, he brings along his sons (Kamal Sabri and tabla player Sarvar Sabri) as well as an additional younger protégé, Suhail Yusuf Khan, for a mind-bending run of sarangi ragas. Each of the players individually can evoke screeching, warbling notes that only a sarangi (or maybe Jimi Hendrix) can make, very similar to dhrupad vocalizations. Put them together though, and you have the Hindustani equivalent of the Rossington-Van Zandt dual guitar lines in "Free Bird." Add to that some fiery tabla courtesy of Sarvar Sabri, who may be one of the few to have a fair claim of speed rivaling Zakir Hussain, and the result is even greater. Fans of Indian classical music in general should enjoy this one, and fans of Ustad Sabri Khan and his sarangi should be overjoyed. ~ Adam Greenberg|