Sitar master Peter van Gelder is one of the first and foremost Western disciples of the renowned Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, one of the greatest musicians and teachers of our time. Van Gelder’s early music studies at Goddard College kindled his interest in jazz, and in 1966 he was invited to play bass guitar with the Great Society, a San Francisco rock band featuring Grace Slick. He brought his soprano sax with him and did much to fuel the jazz-rock movement; his extended “Coltrane-like”solos were praised by Ralph Gleason and others.
The band was short-lived as Peter and Darby Slick (the leader and brother-in-law of Grace) began to study Indian music with Maestro Khan who had come to teach a summer session in Berkeley. Their compositions for the rock band became laden with Indian rhythmic and melodic ideas. When Grace was invited to join the Jefferson Airplane, Peter and Darby sold all their equipment and left to pursue their newfound passion in India. Traveling separately, Peter took the overland route from Europe (flying was very expensive then), and arrived to find that Darby had returned to California after a brief disappointing stay. Peter remained for two years studying under the guidance of Maestro Khan and his family in Calcutta, which was and is the Big Apple of Indian music.
Meanwhile, back in California, other young American students equally inspired by Ali Akbar Khan worked with benefactor Alan Watts to charter the Ali Akbar College of Music. Khansahib, as he is called by all his students and friends, agreed to become the artist in residence. A generous donation from Don McCoy (who also funded the Grateful Dead) got them up and running with a faculty of several of India’s top musicians. The college was run entirely by the students who worked for not much more than free lessons.
The protocol of Indian music study demands a sense of loyalty to one’s teacher, and it was Peter’s luck that, when his money ran out and he returned to California, he was able to continue learning from Khansahib. He soon joined the college staff as a junior sitar instructor and later as bookkeeper/chauffeur/carpenter/concert promoter/grant writer. The college provided a setting for students to immerse themselves in the demanding music, and Peter had the opportunity to perform with musicians like Zakir Hussain, Shankar Ghosh, Ashish Khan, Lalgudi Krishnan and others. He composed music for the dance dramas of Chitresh Das, played sitar on numerous recordings, and performed in college-sponsored concerts.
In 1989 he was awarded the prestigious A.I.I.S. Professional Development Fellowship from University of Chicago to continue his career with a performance-study sabbatical in India during which he played in more than 20 public and private programs. During a ten year hiatus as band and chorus director at the public school in his home town he created the Bronco Brass, a community jazz band of local renown, then returned last year to devote himself full time to the music of India. He now travels and performs widely and teaches sitar again at Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California.
Peter van Gelder lives in Sonoma County, California and is available for concerts, workshops and individual lessons. | Contact |
