I met Ashiq Ali Khan when he was resident in Agra and filmed him extensively with his sons Ashraf Ali and Asif Ali in March 1995. His easy-going optimistic manner impressed me—talking about a congenital deformity of his left-hand that severely impinged on his sarangi technique. His two sons also suffered from this deformity. All were courageous talking about it and practising obsessively despite the handicap. Ashiq Ali's wife also came from a sarangi family. She recalled how her elders used to make their own gut sarangi strings, an art which has been lost in the world of classical sarangi. It still survives among the Langas and Manganiyars of Westerm Rajasthan.
I'm forever grateful to Ashiq Ali's son Arif Ali for taking me to the Wazir Pura naighborhood of Agra where gut sarangi strings are manufactured—a cottage industry involving many members of an extended family. This is covered in my book Sarangi Style in Hindustani Music.6AshraffAliAgra_result.jpg
Ashraf Ali and Asif Ali taught me several very interesting rhythmic exercises—for instance counting forwards to and backwards from successive numbers while staying faithful to the tala cycle.
Towards the end of my stay in Agra, Ashiq Ali was rushed to hospital. I said goodbye to him there.
