Sakar Khan, was an Indian musician, considered by many as the greatest exponent of the Kamancha, a Rajasthani version of the Persian musical instrument of the same name, popular among the Manganiar community of the Indian desert state.
Background
Sakar Khan was born on 9 August 1938 at Hamira, a small village in the Jaisalmer district of the Indian state of Rajasthan, in the Manganiar community, known for their traditional music His father, Chunar Singh, was a renowned kamancha musician and the young Sakar started learning kamancha from an early age under the tutelage of his father to earn a name for himself later.
Career
Khan has performed in many parts of the world, notably in Brussels, at a concert at the Cirque Royal Auditorium, organized by the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, titled, From the Sitar to the Guitar where he played alongside such musicians as Yehudi Menuhin and Pandit Ravi Shankar. His concerts have taken place in countries such as United States, France, Japan and Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics and has performed with George Harrison, the Beatle, and Sultan Khan in London. Sakar Khan, who is credited with getting the Rajasthani kamancha noticed at the world stage, is reported to have made innovations to the instrument, originally a Rabab look alike stringed instrument composed of a goat skin covered body and three or four main and fourteen sympathetic strings by adding to the number of sympathetic strings to enhance the emotional appeal of the instrument.
His renditions of Bhairavi raga and Kalyani raga have been stored in the ethnomusicology archives of Smithsonian Folkways, the record label of the Smithsonian Institution.
His last performance, The Manganiyar Seduction, was at the Purana Qila in Delhi where the organisers, Amarass Records, made analogue recording of the concert and released the same as At Home: Sakar Khan in September 2012. That remains the only album released by Sakar Khan.