Nad Ninad: From Our Archives

Listening Session (no. 6) on the Artistry of Vilayat Khan

An NCPA Presentation

This programme makes available the NCPA’s archival recordings to lovers of Hindustani classical music.

We have been conducting a series of sessions based on rarely heard recordings of sitar maestro, Vilayat Khan (1924 –2004), which were specially recorded for our archives during 1976. Arvind Parikh, his most senior disciple, and Shujaat Khan, his elder son, had engaged the maestro in conversation, recording a wealth of information about his forefathers and their style. Vilayat Khan has also chronicled his own musical journey with ample demonstrations.

Khan was born in Gauripur (now in Bangladesh) in a family of outstanding musicians: his grandfather Imdad Khan and father Inayat Khan were the most celebrated surbahar and sitar players of their time. A child prodigy, Khan went on to become one of the most influential instrumentalists of the 20th century. His distinctive gayaki ang (vocalised style) made his sitar “sing”, and is probably the most widely followed sitar style today.

The first five sessions in this series covered the contributions of his legendary forefathers. The sixth session starts with details of the disciples of Inayat Khan, especially Dhrubatara Joshi and Bimalakanta Roychaudhuri. The session continues with a vital topic of why and how Khan developed the gayaki ang on the sitar. The session includes performance of raga Sindhu Kafi and demonstration of raga Darbari on sitar, and raga Jog (alap and jod) on surbahar by Khan.

Admission on a first-come-first-served basis.

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• Compulsory wearing of Mask
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