| Ustad Vilayat Khan - Rag Hamir |
Vilayat Khan was born into a family of musicians tracing its pedigree generations back to the court
musicians of the Mughal rulers. His father was Enayat Khan (1895–1938), recognised as a leading sitar
and surbahar (bass sitar) player of his time, as had been the grandfather, Imdad Khan (1848–1920),
before him. Vilayat was taught in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani Gharana (school), or Etawah
Gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad lived.
However, Enayat Khan died when Vilayat was only nine, so much of his education came from the rest of
his family: his uncle, sitar and surbahar maestro Wahid Khan, his maternal grandfather, singer Bande
Hassan Khan, and his mother, Bashiran Begum, who had studied the practice procedure of Imdad,
Enayat and Wahid. Vilayat's uncle Zinde Hassan looked after his riyaz (practice). As a boy, Vilayat wanted
to be a singer; but his mother, herself from a family of vocalists, felt he had a strong responsibility to bear
the family torch as a sitar maestro.
The Imdadkhani gharana never added the bass string to their sitar, which is a smaller, lighter instrument,
easier to handle, than for example Ravi Shankar's. In the 1950s, both Vilayat and Ravi worked closely
with instrument makers to further develop their respective instruments, but it was in different directions.
As a result, their sounds and playing styles were also wildly different. Whereas Ravi Shankar's sitar was
large and veena-like, intended for play across multiple registers using multiple melody strings, Vilayat's
was small, with a clean and metallic sound, completely without buzz; it did not reach to the lowest
register; and it perfectly facilitated his enormous playing speed. Also, Vilayat liked to perform without a
tanpura drone, filling out the silence with strokes to his chikari strings. There was much more going on
in his playing than the melody itself.
Some ragas he would somewhat re-interpret (Bhankar, Jaijaivanti), others he invented himself
(Enayatkhani Kanada, Sanjh Saravali), but he was first and foremost a traditional interpreter of grand,
basic ragas such as Yaman, Shree, Todi and Bhairavi.
When he died from lung cancer in 2004, Vilayat Khan had been recording for over 65 years,
broadcasting on All-India Radio since almost as far back and been seen as a master (ustad) for 60.
He had been touring outside India off and on for more than 50 years, and was probably the first Indian
musician to play in England after independence (1951). In the 1990s, his recording career reached
a climax of sorts with a series of ambitious CDs for India Archive Music in New York, some traditional,
some controversial, some eccentric. Towards the end of his life, he also performed and recorded
sporadically on the surbahar.
WIKIPEDIA
musicians of the Mughal rulers. His father was Enayat Khan (1895–1938), recognised as a leading sitar
and surbahar (bass sitar) player of his time, as had been the grandfather, Imdad Khan (1848–1920),
before him. Vilayat was taught in the family style, known as the Imdadkhani Gharana (school), or Etawah
Gharana, after a village outside Agra where Imdad lived.
However, Enayat Khan died when Vilayat was only nine, so much of his education came from the rest of
his family: his uncle, sitar and surbahar maestro Wahid Khan, his maternal grandfather, singer Bande
Hassan Khan, and his mother, Bashiran Begum, who had studied the practice procedure of Imdad,
Enayat and Wahid. Vilayat's uncle Zinde Hassan looked after his riyaz (practice). As a boy, Vilayat wanted
to be a singer; but his mother, herself from a family of vocalists, felt he had a strong responsibility to bear
the family torch as a sitar maestro.
The Imdadkhani gharana never added the bass string to their sitar, which is a smaller, lighter instrument,
easier to handle, than for example Ravi Shankar's. In the 1950s, both Vilayat and Ravi worked closely
with instrument makers to further develop their respective instruments, but it was in different directions.
As a result, their sounds and playing styles were also wildly different. Whereas Ravi Shankar's sitar was
large and veena-like, intended for play across multiple registers using multiple melody strings, Vilayat's
was small, with a clean and metallic sound, completely without buzz; it did not reach to the lowest
register; and it perfectly facilitated his enormous playing speed. Also, Vilayat liked to perform without a
tanpura drone, filling out the silence with strokes to his chikari strings. There was much more going on
in his playing than the melody itself.
Some ragas he would somewhat re-interpret (Bhankar, Jaijaivanti), others he invented himself
(Enayatkhani Kanada, Sanjh Saravali), but he was first and foremost a traditional interpreter of grand,
basic ragas such as Yaman, Shree, Todi and Bhairavi.
When he died from lung cancer in 2004, Vilayat Khan had been recording for over 65 years,
broadcasting on All-India Radio since almost as far back and been seen as a master (ustad) for 60.
He had been touring outside India off and on for more than 50 years, and was probably the first Indian
musician to play in England after independence (1951). In the 1990s, his recording career reached
a climax of sorts with a series of ambitious CDs for India Archive Music in New York, some traditional,
some controversial, some eccentric. Towards the end of his life, he also performed and recorded
sporadically on the surbahar.
WIKIPEDIA