Of Sun and Sitar
When he started alaap in Lalit-an early morning raga-it didn't feel untimely. Lalit, as a raga falls onto the serious, poignant side, which he played for nearly 45 minutes. The tabla player, who arrived late, found himself in soup when Ustadji started to play around with 'lay'and 'taal'. The tabla player gradually gathered confidence and began to show some fireworks himself, reflecting the greatness of Ustadji where he was respectful even to a junior artist.
With Ustad Faiaz Khan's khayal at the back of my mind as a benchmark, I always thought Lalit to be a very macho raga. But Ustadji showed a softer, mellow and poignant side of the raga, which I never realised it had. At the end of the concert, when we went to meet Khan Sahib, he told everyone "hear me with your ears not with your eyes."
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The orange and yellow autumn leaves of the oak and maple trees outside, shimmering, shaking violently in the blustery wind, the rearing dark gray skies as the backdrop, the sparse yet dripping rain outside seemed to be just an echo of the music that was being played inside. When the jhala began, the sun broke through as if the sun God himself came out to listen to the maestro and bless him.
Once again we get to listen to the mesmerising 'chikari' and the 'meend', where his voice seemed to be melting, which was simply breathtaking. Alaap was followed by a short 'gat' in madhyalaya and followed by teentaal gat. Unlike the last time Khan Sahib was in his element today and he delved into his trademark, his forte taankari, speedy laykari, gamak taan and much more.
After finishing Lalit he took a break of 30 minutes. The esteemed audience comprised of people of all colours and creed; but surprisingly, the majority of the crowd were expatriate Bangalis. Wearing a pink saree with very simple but elegant attire- was Sharmila Tagore! She presented Ustadji with a copy of his new CD.
The concert resumed with another morning raga Bhairavi. This time the singer Vilayat Khan came out and he played a short alaap followed by Ustad Enayet Khan's'famous bandish playing in mid-tempo sitarkhani gat. He played excerpts of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan's'famous kheyal (Piya bin)-he sang part of it as well and sang a bandish which he composed on Bhairavi and played it in his 'gayaki' style on sitar. He finished after playing for 30 minutes and as usual I was left asking for more.