With their album ‘Celebrating Our Tigers’, sarod maestros Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash spotlight the big cats and the seven national tiger parks. The album is an ode to the Indian wildlife
Ayaan Ali Bangash and Amaan Ali Bangash
When Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash speak about tigers, they don’t speak in statistics. The sarod maestros, sons of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, have announced Celebrating Our Tigers, an album that serves as a musical ode to India’s wildlife. The seven compositions journey through India’s most iconic tiger parks and are named after them — Jim Corbett, Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore, Kaziranga, Kabini, Pench, and the Sundarbans.
For the duo, the starting point was their instinct. They wanted to highlight each national park through its distinct music. “Each region can be identified with its folk sound. Forests on their own have a sound, which we have incorporated along with the natural music of that region. When you hear Kaziranga, it’s entirely the Assamese Bihu atmosphere. With the Sundarbans, it’s the amalgamation of Bengali folk music — Bhatiyali and Baul. Ranthambore celebrates the music of Rajasthan. At the end of the day, the humans around forests were always humming these natural tunes for hundreds of years,” said Amaan, who, along with his brother, is WWF India’s Goodwill Ambassador.
Wildlife photographers Karam Srivastava, Shivang Mehta, Kalyan Varma, Vikramjit Singh Bal, and Rakesh Rana have formed the visual palette of the album. The brothers were clear from the outset that it would be more than a sonic experience. Amaan elaborated, “The subject was such that we wanted to invoke collaborations with wildlife photographers, who have been following these amazing tigers for so many years.”
Even as they are happy to use their art to spotlight the country’s tiger population, they don’t view Celebrating Our Tigers as activism. Firm on his stance, Ayaan stated, “This, in no way, is any kind of activism. It’s an agenda-free tribute to the tiger and to the landscapes and forests of India. When you celebrate something, at some level, it also conveys a responsibility to do our best to ensure the balance between man and nature. Every note is a tribute to the resilience of these magnificent creatures, and to the tireless efforts of those who protect them.”
In a way, being part of this album signals a bigger purpose of art. Of how it can be a medium to convey your philosophy to the world. “Your music is a reflection of your nature. Whatever convictions you have speak through your music. Any project we undertake comes from a place of passion, belief, and faith,” said Amaan, adding, “This moment is pivotal, as India’s wild tiger population shows a rise due to sustained conservation efforts.”
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