|
Yaadein- Ustad Imrat Khan . |
Ustad Imrat Khan - Sitar
Rasheed Mustafa Thirakawa – Tabla
Raga Darbari Kanada
1 Introduction in Hindi (3.42)
2 Alap (24.42)
3 Jorh (10.25)
4 Gat composition in Vilambit Teentaal (9.43)
Raga Sughrai
5 Gat (Bandish by Ustad Vilayat Khan) in Teentaal (5.00)
6 Gat (Bandish by Ustad Imdad Khan) in Teentaal (7.40)
7 Gat (Bandish by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan) Drut Teentaal (8.24)
|  |
YAADEIN (memories)
Ustad* Imrat Khan is a member of one of the most important and influential musical families in the history of Indian music. Essentially, a handful of musical dynasties form the backbone of this most vibrant musical culture which spans over a period of more than 2000 years, carefully and meticulously passing on musical knowledge from generation to generation in the oral tradition. Few of these families have maintained this important feature as successfully as that of Imrat khan, boasting a musical ancestry that can be traced back to Miyan Tansen the legendary sixteenth century court musician to the Mughal Emperor Akbar, architect of the Taj Mahal and great patron of the arts.
Imrat Khan was born in Calcutta. His father was Inayat Khan (1895-1935), the son of Imdad Khan (1848-1920) after whom the celebrated sitar playing style Imdadkhani is named. Inayat Khan died when Imrat Khan was just two years old, thus the initial training came from his mother Bashiran Begum and maternal grand father Ustad Bandeh Hassan Khan who belonged to a famous family of vocalists. For study of the Sitar he was taken under the wing of his celebrated elder brother Ustad Vilayat Khan.From a young age he simultaneously studied the bass sitar known as surbahar which he learnt from his paternal uncle Ustad Waheed Khan.This lineage shows no sign of losing momentum, on the contrary the musical endeavours of the family are thriving with all his four sons now established in Indian music on various instruments - Nishat on sitar, Irshad on sitar and surbahar, Wajahat on sarod and Shafaatullah on tabla.
Imrat Khan and his brothers were the first to perform the sitar and surbahar in duet(traditionally, Indian stringed instruments support a singer, appear solo, or are supported by the tabla). In 1956 the brothers became the first Indian musicians to tour the Soviet Union, the first country outside the Asian sub-continent to take a genuine interest in the art form. In 1971 Imrat Khan became the first Indian musician to perform at the Royal Albert Hall in the prestigious Promenade concert season. He also pioneered the performance of Indian music in European cathedrals, including Westminster Abbey, Khan himself a Muslim who believes passionately in inter-faith worship.
In 1979 in Berlin he first introduced a Western audience to Indian classical music in its traditional conditions of performance, an all-night recital. Meanwhile, he has always returned to India every year for the concert season. He played sitar and surbahar for the soundtrack of Satyajit Ray's masterpiece, The Music Room. Finally, in 1988, the President of India awarded him the highest honour for a musician, the Sangeet Natak Academy Award.
For Indian musicians vocal music, or gayaki, is the ultimate, purest and most spiritual form of music. All instrumentalists aspire to play in gayaki ang (vocal style) and sing through their instrument with the versatility of the human voice. Imrat Khan's forefather's dedicated their practice in perfecting this art.
This recital is played in tribute to his beloved elder brother and guru sitar maestro, Ustad Vilayat Khan who sadly passed away on March 13 2004 at the age of 76. The concert was recorded on the 8th January 2005 at Kashiram Hall, Ahmedabad, Gujarat at the celebrated Saptak Festival, India's largest annual music festival.
Imrat Khan has chosen to play the magnificent Raga Darbari Kanada, a great favourite with Indian audiences, usually performed deep into the night. It is a raga capable of expressing sentiments of profound emotional intensity. Raga Kanada is thought to have originated in South India, in the state of Karnataka, Kannada being the language spoken there. It was introduced into the north by the singer saint Gopal Nayak in the thirteenth century and was transformed into the majestic Raga Darbari Kanada by Miyan Tansen.
The introductory alap is a slow, introspective exposition of the raga played in free time The alap begins by exploring notes in the lower register, gradually expanding the range of the raga upwards. A characteristic of Imrat Khan's playing is the use of Meend, that is deflecting the pitch by pulling the strings laterally across the fret, varying the tension in such a way that a whole phrase can be released on a single stroke of the mizrab (plectrum). A gentle pulse is introduced for the jorh section (track 3) outlined by the strumming of the high pitched drone strings (chikari), used to create a rhythmic pulse which alternates with the main melodic phrases. After the initial gat in Darbari, Imrat spontaneously switches his train of thought moving on to another melody from the Kanada family, Raga Sughrai, an ancient raga which absorbs some influences of the Sarang group of ragas. All three compositions in Sughrai are set to Teentaal, a rhythmic cycle of sixteen beats. Tabla accompaniment is provided by Rasheed Mustafa Thirakawa, son of the celebrated tabla icon, Ahmedjan Thirakawa.
|
|
