Indian Music Days - English Version

His instruments, the sitar and surbahar (bass sitar), are considered the most difficult string instruments in the world to master. With more than twenty years of experience in the field and as one of the few European representatives of this rare art form, Matyas is a virtuoso performer and meticulous researcher of music and its historical modes of presentation.

He learned sitar and surbahar music under sitar master Subroto Roy Chowdhury, in whose house in Kolkata he lived for more than five years. Since his death in 2017, Matyas has been deepening his knowledge with Ustad Irfan Khan – the head of the ancient Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana for instrumental music – and thus has access to the most extensive repertoire of historical raga instrumental compositions handed down by Mr Khan's ancestors.

As the composer for the well-known jazz ensemble Pulsar Trio, Matyas' music has also gained wide recognition outside the Indian music scene. Wolter focuses on traditional raga interpretation, has performed internationally, released both raga and jazz albums, composed film scores, and is co-founder of the Berlin Raga Tribe (BRT), an initiative to promote authentic performances of traditional raga music in and around Berlin.

His latest project, the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana Archive, preserves and publishes historical recordings of raga masters.

From the age of 12, Arup regularly attended classical Indian music concerts, listened to Indian music recordings and accompanied his parents – without having any formal traditional training on the tabla at that time – on the tabla while they sang religious songs, Tagore songs, Bengali folk songs, etc.

In the late 1980s, Arup met the accomplished tabla player Sri Subhen Chatterjee from Kolkata, who soon became his friend, music teacher and advisor (guru). Since then, Arup has been under Subhenji's loving guidance. Subhen Chatterjee is the eldest disciple of the renowned and world-famous tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, the torchbearer of the LUCKNOW style of tabla playing. Since the mid-1990s, Arup has also been receiving additional lessons from Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.

In addition to several CD releases featuring Arup's tabla playing and recordings for various radio stations such as BR (Bayerischer Rundfunk), WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) and BRF (Belgian Radio), Arup performs regularly throughout Europe, India and the USA. He is now one of the most sought-after tabla accompanists in Europe, especially in Germany.

Arup is not only active as a performer of classical Indian music, but is also involved in numerous projects and bands with contemporary non-Indian musicians covering a wide spectrum, from jazz, Irish folk music, Jewish klezmer music, Eastern European folk music, "New Music" and Arabic classical music to New Age, experimental music and pop music.

He is a student of Pt Mohan Shyam Sharma and also graduated with distinction from the Sangeet Natak Akademi Kathak Kendra under the guidance of Pt Shashikant Pathak. 

Balázs's studies in Indian classical music span more than a decade. He is a regular performer on both national and international stages, and has also presented the art of the pakhawaj in educational institutions in Hungary and abroad.

In 2023, he founded Hungary's first Indian music school, the Ganapati Music School, where he is teaching Pakhawaj and Indian rhythm theory to the students.

Like his father and grandfather before him, Ashraf Sharif Khan belongs to the Poonch Gharana sitar tradition.

Ashraf Sharif Khan combines the highest technical skill with perfection in musical expression. The melodic beauty of his style, accentuated by the dynamic, rhythmic development of a piece, creates an unforgettable musical experience – for lovers and connoisseurs of South Asian music as well as for newcomers to this field. His music transcends regional boundaries and is accessible to everyone.

Since 2000, Ashraf Sharif Khan has lived mainly in Hamburg and Oslo. During his performances in various European cities, he met many international musicians. With some of them, including Terlog Gurthu, Nasil Shama and Tina Tandler, he developed new projects in the field of jazz and world music. He has performed at numerous festivals, including Arabesque in Montpellier, Monde Arabe in Montreal, Oslo Mela World Festival, Fusion in Neustrelitz and Oberjazz in Hamburg.

He has also made several appearances on Norwegian, British and Pakistani television and radio, played in the film "Enzo Avitabile - Music Life" (2012) by Oscar winner Jonathan Demme, and has released four studio and live CDs to date. He teaches classical South Asian music at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.