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Fav Sitar Players(Top three) MELODIC INSTRUMENTS
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56 posts hassan azad 56 posts
hassan azad
Seconded!

Anirban, that is absolutely beautiful.
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povster Senior Member 2,537 posts
povster
Still, we will all be moved by whoever moves us.

Can't say it much better than that.
...Michael
Dasani - the official bottled water of ICM
Panini - the official sandwich of ICM
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jaan e kharabat 1,401 posts
jaan e kharabat
Sitarman

thank you for the sober, well written and intellegent reply.

There are not many recordings of his playing around but Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan was another maestro who presented a traditional style apart from the more well known players. I think he was very good. Masit Khani Gats played exquisitely.

It seems to me that trends in some arts are cyclic. I think that once the expansion of sitar playing into areas of following closer at least the vocal style compositions, such as which SP seems to do more and more, where he choses simple yet very elegant gats to develope his performance around, has run its course and that further refinement becomes gimmicky (not that this has happened ), we might see a return to the more complex Masit Khanis with their built in logic for ragadari and layakari.
If there are just ''six tones'' in an octave [sic] then why have frets for tones that don't exist?
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hassan azad 56 posts
hassan azad
Masit Khani ( and Raza Khani) gaats are only in cycles of 16 beats and are not at all complex. I don't see artists who want to -and can- develop melodic and rhythmic ideas restricting themselves just to teen taal.

There are all sorts of interesting things going on now a days in sitar playing . Spontaneous and composed tihais finishing deliberately between the first and the second beat ( a- sum) and exactly on the first beat ( thaa-sum), merging into the refrain at any point after an extensive melodic development , are some of the things which come immediately to mind.

Jan: See your PMs
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jaan e kharabat 1,401 posts
jaan e kharabat
hassan wrote:
Masit Khani ( and Raza Khani) gaats are only in cycles of 16 beats and are not at all complex.

That may well be but SP's most typical compositions seem to my untrained ears to be even more simple.

BTW I don't see why teental should be viewed as restricting melodic and rhythmic developement. In vocal music, Mallikarjun Mansur sang almost exclusively in Teental and I have only heard Amir Khan's bada khiyal being in Jhumra.
If there are just ''six tones'' in an octave [sic] then why have frets for tones that don't exist?
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luvdasitar 192 posts
luvdasitar

Looks like I have stirred a hornets nest!! Darbari Kanada----- my fav is surprise surprise Rais Khans rendition, also his Tilak Kamod!!
I think its futile to say one sitarist is better than the other, but its also true that certain renditions by certain sitarists strike a chord within you.
I also love NB's Yaman Bilawal, UKV's bhairavi. My only beef with modern indian sitar players is that almost every one is from the Imdad Khani style, no one to follow in the footsteps of NB or even Ravi Shankar.


Oh and does any one know of any recordings of Ustad Mustaq Ali Khan, I have hread that Debu Choudhary plays nothing like him.
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jaan e kharabat 1,401 posts
jaan e kharabat
Yes luvdasitar,

sorry for hijacking this thread but someone had to do it!

ok people you can now go back to naming your favourite sitarists.

As to Mushtaq Ali Khan, i think one of his deciples created a site dedicated to him which has some recordings, "raagascapes" or some thing like that.

He remains one of my favourite players, a style apart from the Etawa-Maihar dichotomy. Does he play in a more been baaz?
If there are just ''six tones'' in an octave [sic] then why have frets for tones that don't exist?
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trippy monkey 4,281 posts
trippy monkey

Anybody any ideas as to why???

A music mag I was looking at in Sanjay's shop in Delhi examined this issue of who was to take over the Great Masters gharanas now they are all dying off. There seem to be very few actively involved with the actual 'top-guy/ette' himself/herself.

The piece's author reckoned Shujaat wasn't worthy of VK's crown so that tells you something about the level of the article.

Certain renditions DO strike a chord, most certainly.

I never found any recordings of Mushtaq Ali Khan sahb while I was in Varanasi recently but then I might not've been 'talking' to the right guys.

Don't forget Ustad Halim Jaffer Khan rendering in such films as Mughal-E-Azam and Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje.

Ustad SP has, indeed, developed his own style as I've had the privilege to have been learning from one of his students, Padmabhan Singh, in Varanasi recently.
This has forced me to re-evaluate my style of playing from more along VK to SP due to the type of gamaks and murkis.
It's only now, weeks later, that I've been able to 'marry' both styles together.

I think I'll start a new thread off with this topic in mind.

Nick
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cream_cheese Senior Member 149 posts
cream_cheese
Povster: UV's Darbari is one of his few records I do not like. Reason: In the gaat his frequent use of zamzama while playing RSnS and his treatment of ga is too far from my conception of Darbari. My personal favourite Darbari is Ustad Shareef Khan's; it is an LP produced by someone in the Netherlands.



This is a community of the learned and the skillful. So most of the times I come and read the forums and sometimes send an odd request or two via PM's that most often get responded to. But this thread has been educative and very engaging and has raised at least one point that is so close to my heart that I cannot but say a few things. But once again, I have zero, if not negative technical knowledge in ICM and my listening experience is also not that wide as some of the rasiks here. However, I must say that I am somewhat surprised by Hassan's mentioning that he does not like UVK's Darbari that is commercially available. It is to me, the definition of a soulful rendition. If I were to die on the proverbial desert island (as if someone cares enough to carry me all that far!), that would be the my #1 piece of music, might I be allowed to take one with me. Evereytime, I listen to it, it simply elevates me to a different world. But then again, may be I am just spilling the beans of my ignorance by saying all of this loud and clear since Hassan is clearly technically far more wise than I ever could be. UVK must have played darabri so many times in his lifetime. Wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to listen to a few and compare how he improvised on different occasions or evolved with time ?

On that related note, I must also add my support to jaan that one rendition of Darbari by SP that I have heard (title - A tribute to Dulal Babu) is very reminiscent of UVK's rendition, may be little more than one would desire. I of course, do want to imply that SP imitates UVK all the time. In fact I listened to a concert of his the past weekend in NYC where he played a wonderful Yaman. The alaap was simply out of this world !

I am slightly surprised that Budhaditya Mukherjee is not on as many favourite lists as is SP. It is quite slanderous to compare but sometimes Budhaditya's playing ( for example the CD titled The Purity of Raag Shudhhya Kalyan) engages me more than SP's but that again, must be a mater of taste. Why is it that I have not come across recordings of any live concerts of Budhaditya ever on the net ? Does he not give public performances at all ?

Also Manilal Nag seems to be somewhat under appreciated than he deserves but then of course, we had only three choices to make :-)

After reading your post Hassan, I HAVE to listen to that Darbari by Ustad Shereef Khan. Is there a way to get hold of it ?

Finally, I hadn't listened to that much of Ustad Rais Khan but today I heard a rendition of his Desh and it was quite splendid. There is a concert coming up in the NYC area, in case anyone is interested.

Warm regards to all.
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AllenDS Senior Member 300 posts
AllenDS
cream_cheese wrote:
Why is it that I have not come across recordings of any live concerts of Budhaditya ever on the net ? Does he not give public performances at all ?
I have heard both Budhaditya Mukherjee and Shahid Parvez play live recently and I was very moved by both performances. I would be unable to chose one performance over another!

-Allen
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luvdasitar 192 posts
luvdasitar
cream_cheese wrote:



Also Manilal Nag seems to be somewhat under appreciated than he deserves but then of course, we had only three choices to make :-)



Finally, I hadn't listened to that much of Ustad Rais Khan but today I heard a rendition of his Desh and it was quite splendid. There is a concert coming up in the NYC area, in case anyone is interested.

Warm regards to all.
Sorry!! I only gave ya guys three choices.
As for Ustad Rais Khan, there's a good collection of some his ragas on musicindiaonline.com. Personally I like his Darbari Kanada and Tilak Kamod.
Speaking of concerts, there are ZERO sitar concerts in London the next few months.
Unless some one can correct me ?
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povster Senior Member 2,537 posts
povster
luvdasitar wrote:
Speaking of concerts, there are ZERO sitar concerts in London the next few months.
Unless some one can correct me ?
If I may correct you: Got this from Kushal Das' site. Just saw him and Rashid Khan in Hayward, California this past weekend with some outstanding tabla by Anandagopal Bandopadhyay. Rasid sang Marwa. Kushal played Hement. Then they did a jugalbandi in Mien Ki Malhar, A 2nd jugalbandi folowed but I had a bit of a drive ahead of me and was getting tired so I missed that. But an excellent concert.

Check the tours on the link below from Kushal Das' web site. A 2-day event is almost upon you.

http://www.kushaldas.com/tour/index.php

06.05.2007: Sitar Festival at London: Sat 5th May 2007: 5.30pm Evening Concert in the Bhavan’s Mountbatten Auditorium Sitar bym - Kalyanjit Das, Reena Srivastav, Padamakar Mishra Viram Jasani and Partho Bose Sunday 6th May 6.00pm Students of Bhavans Sitar Dept with Sutton Subrang, Sanjay Guha, Shuvendra Rao and Kushal Das • Accompanied by tabla artistes Rajkumar Misra, Koushik Sen, Biplav Bhattacharya and Sanju Sahai Contact the BhavanÕs office 0207 381 3086 or Lata Desai 0208 763 8216, 07752387133
...Michael
Dasani - the official bottled water of ICM
Panini - the official sandwich of ICM
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sitarman 599 posts
sitarman
CreamCheese- you may call yourself a "novice" from a technical end but you sound like you have a pretty good understanding and appreciation of the music. What would the world be like if everyone was an "expert"? There would be no true "audience" The beauty of music, that intangible thing that one cannot describe in words, is that it does indeed take us places and make us feel things that are personal spaces and emotions. Your love of VK's Darbari of which you speak is a testament to that. My only regret as a lover of ICM is that I don't have more opportunity to attand live performances- they are rare here in Tucson, especially sitar. So getting a chance to hear SP in Phoenix, Raviji a few times in the last 30 years, Hariprasad once, Manilal once 10 years ago...those are all precious experiences for sure. I think when you attend a performance you get more than the music- you get the personality. It is easy to be hooked on a great player that also communicates with the audience and shares his/her joy of performing. That is something difficult to experience on recordings, although that is all we now have of many great artists, and I am thankful for them. By the way, I was born and raised in NYC but it wasn't until many years later that I became involved in ICM and sitar- I am sure the opportunity for concerts there is pretty good.
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luvdasitar 192 posts
luvdasitar
Was listening to one of Debu da's CD's today. While I enjoyed his alap very much, very melodious and his development of a raga. I was dissapointed with his gats and jhala. His playing loses clarity at high speeds and is a bit all over the place.
In that respect, one wonders what the extent of his talim under UMK was?
I know a lot of people have already asked this question, and after listening to this record, I too am wondering the same thing.
If anything he seems to be quite inspired by the Maihar gharana.


Or am I terribly mistaken ?????
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sitariya 70 posts
sitariya
Very interesting and decent discussion. I remember few years ago there was a thread about sitar wars on classical newsgroup. But most discussion revolved around VK, NB,RS. As expected, it got pretty nasty. But there was no discussion about likes of Shahid Pervez and others. SP certainly has made lot of fans in last few years specially on this forum. I just heard his live concert last weekend. Yaman for almost 75 minutes. It was technically such a incredible performance, but musically not even close to VK's yaman rendering. There are many VK followers including SP have technically mastered the instrument, but as a musician they have long way to reach his level. As a musician, VK can be only compared with likes of RS and NB. I have special affection for Abdul Halim jafar khan having heard his older recordings in india at one of his disciple's place. They were all memorable performances. Unfortunately ustadji could not reach the level of other greats.

Just trying to keep the thread alive
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luvdasitar 192 posts
luvdasitar
U might have a point there about SP. I would infact stretch that to all modern sitar players. Most of them are master technicians, but "musically", they still have some way to go before claiming equality with the likes of VK or NB.(or Rais Khan...have to insert that since he is my favourite. ).
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