Ram Narayan (Hindi: राम नारायण; IAST: Rām Nārāyaṇ, IPA: [ˈraːm naːˈɾaːjəɳ]; born 25 December 1927) is an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player.
Narayan was born in Udaipur and learned to play the sarangi at an early age. All India Radio, Lahore, hired Narayan as an accompanist for vocalists in 1944. He moved to Delhi following the partition of India in 1947, but wishing to go beyond accompaniment, Narayan moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema. Narayan became a concert solo artist in 1956, and later gave up accompaniment. He recorded solo albums and began to tour America and Europe in the 1960s. Narayan taught Indian and foreign students and performed, frequently outside of India, into the 2000s. (Full article...)