Aruna Narayan

Aruna Narayan Kalle is an Indian musician who plays the bowed instrument sarangi. She is the daughter of internationally successful sarangi player Ram Narayan and is regarded as the first Indian woman to professionally play the sarangi.

Early life and career While Narayan always watched her father Ram Narayan play the sarangi and sometimes played the tanpura for him, she decided to learn to play the sarangi herself only at the age of 18 in 1973, much to the delight of her father. Her father picked out a sarangi for her from Nashik, which was previously owned by a travelling sadhu. She still plays this sarangi as of 2019.

Narayan has helped compose the background score for movies like Monsoon Wedding (2001) and Life Of Pi (2012) and usually works with the composer Michael Dyanna for such projects. She was born and brought up in Mumbai and got married and moved to Pune. As of 2019, she lives in Toronto, Canada.