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I met Badal Khan in Dholpur, Rajasthan on the 19th of March 1995. He was a rank-and-file sarangi player, related by marriage to Abdul Latif Khan. A patch over one eye (usually), testament to a failed eye operation, enhanced my impression of a real sarangi veteran.

Badal Khan visited Abdul Latif Khan several times when I was in Bhopal.  On one occasion he was very impressed by a repair job I had done on the fingerboard of Abdul Latif Khan's sarangi, and he implored me, in absolute seriousness, to repair his eye—which I was clearly qualified to do if I could do such wonders with a sarangi fingerboard!

This video is of a meeting in his house in Dholpur. He was a bit worse for wear, having been playing Holi with the local children. He played my sarangi, and I followed his stream of consciousness from rag to rag, then we talked about life and music:

 

 

 

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