Harsh Narayan -- North Indian classical sarangi soloist

Co-sponsored by Crossroads Music, Sruti, and the Penn South Asia Center Harsh Narayan is a leading sarangi (Indian string instrument played with a bow) player, teacher and performer of Hindustani (north Indian classical) music.

At the age of six, he began studying with his grandfather, the legendary Pandit Ram Narayan, who is generally credited with developing the bowed sarangi – previously used mainly to accompany singers, other instrumentalists, or dancers – to the level of a serious solo instrument. Harsh embraced this highly technical and very challenging instrument wholeheartedly and was performing internationally by the age of eighteen.

His total command of sarangi playing technique has earned him an “A” graded artist rating from All India Radio. As he continues to build out and broaden his musical career, as a teacher and performer in India and abroad, he is embarking upon his first major concert tour of the United States, scheduled for the Fall 2016.

Armed with a unique musical background and an invaluable classical training, Harsh Narayan is eminently qualified to expand upon the enormous body of work of his grandfather while establishing himself among the new generation of Indian Classical Musicians and sarangi torch bearers. "His grip over the medium is admirable and he can communicate the emotion of the raga very well. There was an admirable fluidity in his music." – Time Out Mumbai