Gulfam Sabri

Gulfam Sabri belongs to the famous family of musicians and represents his seventh generation. He is the youngest son of the master of Sarangi Ustad Sabri Khan , winner of the Indian State Prize Padma Bhushan . According to the traditions of upbringing in Indian musical families, Gulfam studied music in his home circle from an early age. Initially, it was assumed that he would deal exclusively with vocals, which his father taught him. However, at the same time, he showed interest in playing the tabla , and his father, who at first believed that he should not scatter his attention and forces in different areas, later changed his point of view. The first tabla teachers for Gulfam were uncle and older brother, Sarwar Sabri Khan. Later, he continued his studies with Ustad Bundu Khan according to the traditional guru-shisha parampara system , learning the techniques of the Ajrara Gharan school.

Already at the age of 7, Gulfam began to perform publicly at the concerts of his many relatives-musicians, accompanying on the tabla. By the age of 14, after many years of daily practice playing the drums, he reached a high level and played on the same stage with his father. ^[one]

At the age of 18, the musician received accreditation and became a respected member of the Council for Cultural Relations of India , which gave him the opportunity to actively travel and spread Indian music culture outside his homeland. The beginning of his European musical career was marked by the joint recording of Raga Ahir (Raga Ahir) with the master of wichitra wine Mustafa Raza on the British label ARC Music Productions International , the disc was released in 1997. In 1999, Gulfam and Mustafa continued their collaboration by releasing a CD with Raga Champakali on the Paris label Makar records.

In 2004, Sadhna records released a Dehleez album with ghazals performed by Gulfam Sabri in Britain to the poetry of contemporary poet Safi Hassan. One of the vocal parts on the album belongs to the famous gazale singer Gulam Ali . The release was followed by a concert tour in support of the album in the UK, Ireland and Hong Kong.

In the same year, the musician performed parts on the tabla for the jazz fusion album Kriya of the same name team, released in Helsinki ^[2] . In general, from 1998 to 2010, Gulfam Sabri worked actively in Finland and collaborated with well-known musicians such as Jukka Karjalainen , Jukka Tolonen , Seppo Kantonen and Sakari Kukko .

Throughout his career, Gulfam Sabri has toured with concert programs around the world. The most significant was the concert at the international festival of Sufi music in Kabul in 2005, after which the musician was honored to perform compositions for the King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, who had returned to his homeland on the eve of the fall of the Taliban regime in his residence. ^[3] At the BBC Live Fest in 2000 at the Symphony hall in Birmingham, marking the beginning of the new millennium, the musician sololy performed classical ragas to the accompaniment of sarangi and tabla performed by his father and brother. ^[4] In the same year, Gulfam Sabri performed at the Re-Orient Oriental Music Festival in Estonia. The musician was often invited to Sufi festivals, for example, in Srinagar, Kashmir in 2006 and in Ottawa, Canada in 2008. ^[5] . In Oslo in 2015, Gulfam Sabri took part in a concert dedicated to the Nobel Prize.

In 2008, in Birmingham, the musician composed and produced another disc called Mamta , the main theme of which was women's feelings and feelings associated with the birth and upbringing of children. It was created with the assistance of Sampad South Asian Arts & Heritage [1] , an organization that has been strengthening cultural ties between Britain and countries in the South Asian region such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust for over 27 years. The songs on this album sound in different languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Braj Bhasha, Urdu, but they are all united by the idea of ​​motherly love.

For several years, the musician lived in Birmingham, during which he actively collaborated with dance and theater campaigns that spread classical Indian culture in the UK. In particular, in 2005 he participated in the creation of musical accompaniment for the performance of The Far Pavillion, staged based on the famous novel of the same name in the London Shaftesbury Theater .

From 2008 to 2013, the musician worked mainly in India, giving concerts in Delhi ^[6] and the northern regions of the country where Sufi culture is especially prevalent, for example, in the capital of Punjab Chandigarh. ^[7]

Gulfam Sabri lived in Russia for four years (from 2014 to 2018), where, in addition to teaching, he was looking for common points of classical Indian and European music, collaborating with musicians of the Moscow Conservatory. Tchaikovsky ^[8] and with the Kremlin Orchestra under the direction of M. Rakhlevsky ^[9] . The musician experimented with a combination of Sufi performing tradition and opera vocals ^[10] , with Russian folk music in collaboration with the folk project Living Earth ^[11] , with electronic music together with Ksenia Lebedeva and her Xenique electric trio ^[12] .

With the assistance of the Indian Embassy in Moscow for International Yoga Day in 2016, Gulfam Sabri released the disc Yoga Music for Harmony and Peace, a material for which was recorded several years ago in England with the participation of Indian musicians, while Gulfam himself acted not only as a performer, but and composer and arranger of all compositions. ^[13] The album contains four compositions, each created for traditional Indian instruments: Bansuri , Santura , Sarangi and Sitara .

The musician also conducted an active concert activity in Russia, performing both as a virtuoso of the tabla and as a vocalist. He gave concerts in Moscow ^[14] , at the sitar festival in St. Petersburg ^[15] , at major regional festivals such as Ural Music Night ^[16] , representing the classical Indian tradition.

The interest in the idea of ​​transmitting the Indian musical tradition arose with the musician quite early. After joining the ICCR in 1998, Gulfam Sabri was invited by the Singapore Society of Fine Arts , where he taught classical Indian music for a year.

Subsequently, throughout all his creative activity, Gulfam Sabri paid attention to the spread of ancient musical knowledge in many countries and among various age and professional groups. He taught at the GD Goenka Public School in Delhi, and rehabilitation centers for children with disabilities, and at the jazz department of the Queensland Conservatory in Brisbane in Australia, and at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in Finland. The musician held a huge number of workshops and trainings around the world: in the UK, America, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Australia, Thailand, South Korea ^[17] .

In Russia in 2014—2018 musician taught a course of Indian music at the Cultural Center. Jawaharlal Nehru at the Embassy of India (JNCC) and at the Moscow Conservatory. P.I. Tchaikovsky. As part of the JNCC enlightenment mission, Gulfam Sabri spoke at a variety of field seminars in cultural institutions of Russian cities: in St. Petersburg, Astrakhan, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, and Kyzyl. In the monograph “Musical science in the 21st century. Ways and searches ”, published by the Russian Academy of Music named after Gnesins to the 70th anniversary of the institution in 2015, Gulfam Sabri participated in the writing of a chapter on the history and current state of affairs in Indian music. The musician gave several interviews for Russian television channels in which he revealed the features of the musical culture and educational process in India ^{[18] [19]} .

• 1997 - Ahir raga , ARC Music Productions International, West Sussex, UK

• 1999 - Raga Champakali , Makar records, Paris, France

• 2004 - Kriya , released by the group of the same name Kriya, Kallio-Kuninkala Studios, Helsinki, Finland

• 2004 - Dehleez , Sadhna records, Birmingen, UK

• 2008 - Mamta , Spectra studio, Birmingen, UK

• 2016 - Yoga music for harmony and peace , ICCR & JNCC, Embassy of India Moscow, Moscow, Russia

2017 - Bharat Gaurav Samman from the Hindustani Sammaj organization, Moscow

2016 - Young Maestro Award from the Ethnomir Cultural and Educational Tourist Center

1995 - Sangeet Bhushna Award from the Uttar Pradesh State Government

1994 - Empanelled artist of ICCR from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India

1993 - Taal-Mani Award from the Sursingar Academy in Mumbai

1993 - Best artist Award from AIIMS in Delhi