A name that has become synonymous with the sarangi in present times, Ram Narayan began his career in Lahore in 1944 and continued at Delhi and later Mumbai, emerging as the most sought after accompanist. Throughout this period, he was learning, researching and experimenting with his instrument. His efforts received encouragement and praise from eminent vocalists like Omkarnath Thakur and Krishnarao Shankar Pandit.

Having gained technical command and created a voice for himself, Ram Narayan decided to devote himself to furthering the solo status of the sarangi. Despite a period of struggle, he brought in technical innovations that introduced a separate and universally acknowledged style of sarangi playing.

Among Ram Narayan’s admirers are respected musicians like Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Casals and Rostropovich with whom he has enjoyed long associations. Yehudi Menuhin comments, “The sarangi remains not only the authentic and original Indian bowed instrument but the one which most poignantly and in the hands of Ram Narayan revealingly expresses the very soul of Indian feelings and thought. I cannot separate the Sarangi from Ram Narayan so thoroughly fused are they not only in my memory but in fact of this sublime declaration of the great musician to an instrument which is no longer archaic because of the matchless way he has made it speak.”