Artist.......: Imrat Khan
Album........: Rag Madhur Ranjani
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Meditative
Catnr........: n/a
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: May-30-2008
str.date.....: 000-00-0000
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. solo sitar 30:45
02. sitar & tabla 30:19
Runtime 61:04 min
Size 82,8 MB
Release Notes:
Just a change of pace. Imrat Khan is part of the
illustrious Khan family from India in which just
about everyone totally rips everything they do on
record. Dude plays sitar on this recording and is
insane on it. This album is comprised of 2
30-minute pieces and both are extremely beautiful.
One is "Solo Sitar" which is just that. The second
is "Sitar & Tabla" which features Imrat's son on
the tabla, and he is great too. I'll type up the
liner notes:
Imrat Khan is one of the most well known Indian
musicians of our time. He traces his lineage back
through a family of musicians to the court of the
great Moghul Emperor Akbar of the sixteenth
century. He trained on the surbahar with his uncle
Usta Waheed Khan, and studied sitar with his older
brother, the celebrated Ustad Vilayat Khan.
Gayecki Ang [a vocal style of playing stringed
instruments] has become a trademark of the gharana
(musical "house") of Imrat and Vilayat Khan.
Gayecki Ang involves an extensive use of a
technique called meend wherein a player pulls
sideways across the frets and allows for an entire
musical phrase to be produced with a single stroke
of the plectrum.
Imrat Khan is renowned throughout the world, and
maintains a busy travel and touring schedule. He
performs regularly in the major cultural centers of
Europe and the Americas, as well as in India, where
he makes his home.
Shafaatullah Khan accompanies his father on tabla
with a sensitivity that is characteristic of the
entire Khan family. Shafaatullah first began his
training in sitar and surbahar, and later studied
tabla in order to provide accompaniment for his
father and his brothers, all of whom are string
players. He performs regularly with them in
international circuits, as well as with other well
known musicians. He currently resides in the United
States.
Indian Classical music is one of the most developed
forms of music to have emanated from our world. In
many ways, especially as regards scale and rhythmic
structures, it is far more complex than Western
Classical music. Its improvisational aspects
require and encourage performers to inject their
own personalities into the music, without ever
straying very far from the set melody and rhythm.
In this way, a classical raga written hundreds of
years ago may be rendered somewhat differently by
any number of musicians over the years. These
characteristics afford Indian Classical music a
certain timelessness, and allow for a wide range of
interpretations of a given composition.
It has always been a sensitive issue as to when a
musician should feel comfortable enough to compose
his own rag. A musician might attempt this only
after a long period of his life, after a thorough
knowledge of perhaps hundreds of rags has been
attained. A musician of such stature might then
present his own composition. It does not suffice
however, to merely compose a rag because in order
to be thoroughly absorbed into the musical system,
a piece must be played regularly and passed on
through the generations until it achieves
recognized status.
Rag Madhur Ranjani is a rag of Imrat Khan's own
design, but is based on two well known traditional
rags, Madhuvanti and Shivranjani. Set in a minor
key, Rag Madhur Ranjani echoes the pathos of
Shivranjani, but also expresses fulfillment, as of
finding one's beloved after a long period of
absence. Rag Madhur Ranjani is performed on this
recording in alap, villambit, madhyalaya and drut.
The scale, in ascending and descending forms is as
follows:
Sa Re Gab Ma# Pa Dha Sa
Although Imrat Khan is very well known for his
surbahar playing, it was specifically requested
that he render a performance on sitar for this
recording. This request was graciously obliged, but
it was not known until the day of the recording
exactly which rag he would play. In Western music,
it would be very difficult (if not impossible) for
a producer to embark on a recording session without
knowing which songs were to be performed. However,
in the Indian tradition, many factors such as time
of day, season, climactic conditions, personal
feelings of the performer etc. regularly help to
determine which piece will be most appropriate for
a given performance. Madhur Ranjani was the perfect
choice for this recording and it is rendered here
with great passion and dexterity. The relatively
diminished role of the tamboura, played sensitively
by Irshad Khan, is used only as filler at crucial
points in the rag, rather than throughout the
entire performance. In this way, the silence that
exists in between individual notes can be utilized
to its greatest extent in order to create a tension
and balance which are integral to the final effect
of the piece.