First appeared in www.scroll.in on July 12, 2014. Moradabad town in Uttar Pradesh and its neighbouring areas were once home to migrant communities from Afghanistan, who not only assimilated the local culture but also contributed elements from their own. Not surprisingly, therefore, the region has offered such diversity and richness to Hindustani music. Many hereditary musicians consider Moradabad their place of origin and can list ancestors who lived in the city back in the early 19th century. They studied initially with