Sitar Repertoire of Ustad Vilayat Khan
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| Author with Ustad Vilayat Khan |
The main focus of this note is to analyze Ustad Vilayat Khan’s sitar style, the way he revolutionized Sitar Baaj and his contribution in Indian Classical Instrumental Music. This note has been written from my realization on Vilayatkhani baaj which I am achieving with experience of playing Sitar from my childhood, receiving talim on the treasure of ImdadKhani Etawah gharana from two of Vilayat Khan’ most senior and distinguished disciples, Pt. Arvind Parikh and Pt. Kashinath Mukherejee, along with my father, more over, with direct interaction of Ustad Vilayat Khan himself in person.
One of Ustad Vilayat Khan's contemporary musician paid his tribute to Khan Sahib by referring him as ‘A great musician’. How ever this is far from sufficient to describe genius of Ustad Vilayat Khan. In fact, Khan Sahab occupies the pre-eminent place in the world of Hindustani Classical Music being a legend by virtue of his exceptional musicianship, matchless creativity, dazzling brilliance, superlative perfection, awesomely brilliant techniques and acknowledged mastery over the instrument. Combined with strong base of traditionalism, his own contribution had made him an authority and icon of Indian Classical Music.
Formative years:
Having unparallel family legacy of Music (unmatched for its achievements in Instrumental music), Ustad Vilayat Khan’s prime Gurus (teachers) were his father great Sitar Nawaz Ustad Enayat Khan Sahab, paternal uncle Ustad Wahid Khan Sahab, maternal grand father Ustad Bande Hussain Khan, maternal uncle Ustad Zinda Hussain Khan. He got guidance from his mother Bashiran Begum during his riyaz. Other than his gurus, Ustad Alladiya Khan of Jaipur Gharana, Ustad Rajab Ali Khan of Dewas, Ustad Faiyaz Khan of Agra Gharana and Ustad Abdul Karim Khan of Kirana Gharana have left their impression on Ustad Vilayat Khan’s music.
Ustad Vilayat Khan was not only a traditionalist, but also an innovator. That’s why the words ‘Orthodox’ and ‘Revolutionary’ are appropriately used to describe his rare genius. He was the first one among the emerging instrumentalists of that time, who expanded the horizons of Instrumental music to the highest extend. Though he was gifted with the great treasure of his family music, he was not satisfied with them only. The extraordinary musical creativity insisted him to explore new musical horizons that were untouched and unseen by his peer and contemporary instrumentalists.
Evolution of Gayaki Ang (Vocal Style)
He imbibed his style with stylistic nuances of legendary departed vocalists. The prime essences of great vocalists that were adopted by Khan Sahab are mentioned below:
Ustad Faiyaz Khan (Agra
Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Pt. Omkar Nath Thakur – Sur lagane ki tameez (charming application of notes)
Ustad Alladiya Khan & Ustad Rajab Ali Khan – Taano ki fande aur Bal Panch (taan pattern)
Other than these master musicians, Khan Sahab had indirect influence of Abdul Wahid Khan Sahab (Kirana), Johra Bai (Agrewali), Mustaq Hussain Khan and Nisar Hussain Khan(Rampur-Sahaswan) along with his contemporaries like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Amir Khan. His brother in law Ustad Mohammad Khan (father of Ustad Rais Khan) had influences on him in his formative years.
At the time of talim, Khan Sahab’s maternal grand father and uncle used to demonstrate musical phrases by singing, which helped Khan Sahab to create the revolutionary Gayaki Ang on instrument. Creation of Gayaki Ang is considered as the very important and lasting contribution of Khan Sahab in the world of Indian Classical Music.
Khan Sahab has done riyaz together with his contemporary great vocalists (including Munawar Ali Khan, Niyaz Ahmad-Faiyaz Ahmad Khan) as a result of which Khan Sahab was successful to build the revolutionary Gayaki Ang Sitar Baaj, which is now universally accepted as Vilayatkhani Baaj.
Some selected musicians criticize calling Vilayat Khan’s style as ‘Gayaki Ang’ and claim that Gayaki Ang on instrument is nothing new, as vocal music is mother of all kind of instrumental music.
The fact is: Unlike a bowing instrument like Sarangi, where long duration notes can be achieved by bowing motion produced by the player, sitar is plucking instrument where each note produced by a stroke has limited duration. Vilayat Khan introduced a completely new left hand technique by which continuity of a note with much duration was achieved. This brought the unusual lyrical fluidity in his music. What Vilayat Khan has done is significantly different from other gharana-instrumentalists. He introduced very difficult and highly intricate khayal-ang murkis, dynamism and flow of sarangi, meend of long range as used in vocal music, taan patterns which follow the vocal idioms. Even his rendition of thumri can be taken as the proof why his style is rightly called ‘Gayaki Ang’. Though Ustad Enayat Khan introduced small khayal ang murkis and vocal model of taan patterns, Ustad Vilayat khan had done the full-fledged introduction of Gayaki Ang in all stages of performance. Sometimes his taans in his heydays were seemed to be challenge not only for the instrumentalists but also for the vocalists.
Khan Sahab’s style was not vocal music on instrument, rather instrumental version of vocalized form of music.
His repertory consisted of Imadad Khan Sahab’s tantra ang baaj, gat toda, Enayat Khan Sahab’s sapat taan, Tihai, peshkara, tobba, chakkardar, kaida, thaduni etc. Strong and intricate Bol pattern, Taiyari of super human standard, most difficult movement of Khayal, which was beyond imagination of the instrumentalists of pre-Vilayat Khan era of instrumental music, were the obvious items to be listened in Vilayat Khan mehfil.
The Silsilabar, sequencial expansion of Raag, Badhat that he had in his music, was the result of tremendous talim, vigorous riyaz and musical sense of highest standard. After his father Ustad Enayat Khan, he was the pioneer among the instrumentalists to bring the romantic approach in Classical Music. He has introduced interesting facets to his musical content without any damage to the traditionalism. The contribution of Ustad Vilayat Khan in the evolution of Sitar baaj is outstanding, as well as everlasting, both in term of classical approach, technical and structural changes of the instrument.
Structural Changes of Sitar
As a natural corollary to the individual style that Ustad Vilayat Khan created, the sitar as an instrument has necessarily to Undergo some basic changes. Let us enumerate the physical changes that he introduced.
1. His execution of intricate murki-s, gamak tan-s and five note meends required a much stronger base i.e., the tabli - the tabli had also to be strong enough to absorb the tremendous Power of right hand strokes. The thin tabli was replaced by a much thicker tabli which could sustain the heavy pressure transmitted through the bridge.
2. The bridge had also to be changed with two ends in view Firstly it had to be strong and of a quality that would suit the round or heavy jowari that Ustad Vilayat Khan desired. The 2nd change in the bridge was related to the height In addition to the special shape of the tabli, the legs of the bridge were also required to be higher which would enable the strings to be placed at a greater distance from the frets. How can we produce the gamaks and meend-s without an arrangement like this?
3. It would be easily understood that the forceful execution through both the left and the right hand required an extra strong mechanism which joins the ‘dand’ with the main tumba. Metal screws and special techniques were used for this purpose
4. The tar-gahan or aad’ had also necessarily to be thicker. It had to suffer a much stronger pull. Ustad Vilayat Khan has modified the curvature of the targahan as well for special Sound production.
5. Likewise the frets had also to be thicker and their metal had to be much stronger. Brass was replaced by German Silver. The shape or the curve of the frets was also designed to enable proper, easy and accurate execution of the meends.
6. Not least important are the changes that Ustad Vilayat Khan made in the arrangements and the gauge of the strings. The seven string sitar was made into 6 string sitar. One jod string was removed with the view to have less vibrant jod sound and giving a greater scope for clearer execution of the bol-s by providing a greater distance between madhyam and jod. He replaced the kharaj pancham string by a steel string which in my humble opinion is a revolutionary change having far reaching implications on the sound of the sitar. The strings are tuned at the higher pitch than the earlier sitar-s. The C sharp pitch has been selected to suit the size, the shape, the thickness of the tabli and the jowari of this newly evolved sitar. The result is so profound and striking that a mere ‘chedchad’ or strumming of such a sitar is immediately recognized as a Vilayatkhani sitar.
There are several other supplementary changes that Ustad Vilayat Khan made: such as the removal of upper tumba, a screw style device instead of the usual manka to increase or decrease the pitch.
2. The bridge had also to be changed with two ends in view Firstly it had to be strong and of a quality that would suit the round or heavy jowari that Ustad Vilayat Khan desired. The 2nd change in the bridge was related to the height In addition to the special shape of the tabli, the legs of the bridge were also required to be higher which would enable the strings to be placed at a greater distance from the frets. How can we produce the gamaks and meend-s without an arrangement like this?
3. It would be easily understood that the forceful execution through both the left and the right hand required an extra strong mechanism which joins the ‘dand’ with the main tumba. Metal screws and special techniques were used for this purpose
4. The tar-gahan or aad’ had also necessarily to be thicker. It had to suffer a much stronger pull. Ustad Vilayat Khan has modified the curvature of the targahan as well for special Sound production.
5. Likewise the frets had also to be thicker and their metal had to be much stronger. Brass was replaced by German Silver. The shape or the curve of the frets was also designed to enable proper, easy and accurate execution of the meends.
6. Not least important are the changes that Ustad Vilayat Khan made in the arrangements and the gauge of the strings. The seven string sitar was made into 6 string sitar. One jod string was removed with the view to have less vibrant jod sound and giving a greater scope for clearer execution of the bol-s by providing a greater distance between madhyam and jod. He replaced the kharaj pancham string by a steel string which in my humble opinion is a revolutionary change having far reaching implications on the sound of the sitar. The strings are tuned at the higher pitch than the earlier sitar-s. The C sharp pitch has been selected to suit the size, the shape, the thickness of the tabli and the jowari of this newly evolved sitar. The result is so profound and striking that a mere ‘chedchad’ or strumming of such a sitar is immediately recognized as a Vilayatkhani sitar.
There are several other supplementary changes that Ustad Vilayat Khan made: such as the removal of upper tumba, a screw style device instead of the usual manka to increase or decrease the pitch.
Alap:
Ustad Vilayat Khan’s alap is one of the best examples of highest level of classicism. The universal appeal that was in his alap was due to his introspective vision, passion and musicality. The principle of Khan Sahab’s alap is, Badhat Vistar of Kirana Gharana, which was initiated by Abdul Wahid Khan Sahab and later it was adopted by great vocalist Ustad Amir Khan. The impression of Abdul Karim Khan and Enayat Khan is very evident in his alap. Khan Sahab added nice blend of Sringar Ras(romantic mood), Mithas (sweetness), Samarpan Bhav (devotional appeal) and Vir Ras (vigour) in alap. Pt. Arvind Parikh rightly describes Khan Sahab’s alap style as ‘Story telling manner’. The notes are enfolded by petal by petal, according to Raga-Swarup in the full length alap. Khan Sahab was the first Sitarist who introduced ‘Panch Swaro ki Meend’ on Sitar. His alap was clearly built and systemized with Sthayi, Antara, Sanchari and Abhog, the principle parts of Dhrupadang Alapchari, though his rendition style was influenced by post-dhrupad era music. He started to use Ghasit+Meend and perfect tip to jump from a note of lower octave to higher octave in the sanchari part of alap. Abhog part was beautified with ‘Ulta-Meend’ and emphasis on he melodic centers of the Raga in abaroha ang. Khan Sahab created variation in Mohra also, with off beat chikari stroke and use of tarab taar (sympathetic string). The perfect use of Sruti and Swarasthan according to raga was another specialty of Vilayat Khan’s Alap. Intricate Khayal ang Murki, perfect use of gap and volume variation, surprising combination of Sweetness and Boldness of stroke, judicious use of krintan, sparsh were also used in the alap chari.
The quality of Sitar-tone was not of very high quality in the pre-Vilayat Khan era of Sitar music (specially in the rival gharanas), compared to the new scientific microphone systems. Due to light and very sharp jawari, their Sitar tone had lesser depth and the sound of melodic strings could not be sustained long. Khan Sahab had changed the structure of Sitar in such a way, that all the shortcomings of the instrument were overcome. The tricky use of all the strings and modified use of jawari (Round Jawari) made it possible to sustain the duration of a stroke which resulted the Continuity of the melody.
My senior guru bhai Sri Deepak Raja writes: ‘Vilayat Khan tried out every phrase of a raga in a variety of ways until it delivered the desired melodic and acoustic result, and practiced it for as long as it took to perfect it before performance.’ as he heard from Pt. Arvind Parikh.
Importance on Sadaj , both in Madhya and Taar Saptak was very significant in his Alap. Before touching the taar saptak sadaj, he used to create magical combination of notes surrounding ‘Sa’, which even increased the thirst of his listeners for reaching Sadaj.
The laya of Khan Sahab’s alap used to vary as per his mood ranging from Ati vilambit to Madh Alap. In case of 'Madh-Alap', the pace of the Alap movements seems to be faster compared to the Vilambit Alap. There were many minute things that Khan Sahab introduced may be in subconscious mind in his repertory, which came naturally due to his extreme musical talent.
For example, a virtual chain-link was always there in between the phrases of a particular phase of his Alap. During the Raaga-Vistaar, mohra comes between each phase as the clear-cut precision. Intensity of stroke for Mohra was different from that for natural Alap. Balanced use of jod, Steel-Gandhar, chikari and taraf string used to create the spontaneous effect of Taanpura. In the middle phase of his career he used to perform even without tanpura, as he could fill up the silence between the lyrical phrases with judicious use of jod, Steel-Gandhar, chikari and taraf strings. Even the introduction of gap between phrases was aesthetically equivalent to the breath of a Singer. He was the first to tune the first taraf taar to mandra saptak ‘Ni’.
Jod:
Ustad Vilayat Khan introduced a very different and unique style of Jod ang, which was absent in Pre-Vilayat Khan era Sitar styles. The uniqueness of Vilayat Khan’s jod is that, the Melody and rhythm goes together without any characteristic conflict. All the good qualities of Alap are still present in the jod. The elements of Sitar baaj like Krintan, sparsh, ghashit, meendsut, khatka, jhatka, jhapki, gitkiri comes one after another in phrases as the elements of subject building, emphasizing particular melodic points based on the Raga . These start from Mandra Saptak and take certain meaningful shapes and expand through the octaves and get end at the Sadaj with Mohra with dancing effect. Ustad Faiyaz Khan’s Nom-Tom akar comes at this point. With difficult use of Mizrab and nail of the right hand-liitle finger, Khan Sahab used to produce playing styles of Sarod, Sur sringar, Been etc. The difficult combination of the notes was constructed in a very simple structure, which needs outstanding command over instrument. Gradually the tempo of the jod is increased and variation of the right hand strokes between Nayaki and Chikari Strings come at this point, while left hand creates Alap-like melody flow, Gamak, Ghasits, palta, even sapat taan like movement. In sixties he innovated an entirely new technique of playing Main , Chikari and first 3 taraf strings in which the tempo is bound in a peculiar Madhya-drut-tempo, which precedes his famous ‘Ulta-Jhala’. Being a creative genius that he was, he invented many new techniques which are adopted by his followers. Playing bols on only chikari string, combination of ghasit, long range meend with jhala etc are worthy to be mentioned in this regard. At the antara phase of is ulta jhala portion, the wonderful use of krintan and its badhat has become trade mark of his Gharana-Style.
After completion of Ulta Jhala, before starting the Nibadhya Ang, Khan Sahab used to play Taans, which he used to describe as ‘Rajab Ali Khan Sahab ki Amad ki Taane’. Music lovers who even have a little bit understanding of this gharana-music, know that this gharana is a huge mine of ‘Panch-daar’ Taans. Khan Sahab has never been out of tune even at the Tans with intricate patterns with difficult movements at superlative speed. Starting from top grade artists to today’s young generation musicians (including vocalists) keep Khan Sahab’s Taans as their model.
Vilambit gatkari:
In some instrument gharanas, there is no separate material to be played in Vilambit Gat portion. Hence the same Alap chari ang is repeated in Masit Khani Gat; so to avoid the repetition, they play alap-jod-jhala in one raag and gat in other raag. On the other hand, Vilayat Khan’s ancestor Imdad Khan Sahab brought Silsila to Masit Khani Baaj. Having encyclopedic knowledge on instrumental and vocal music, Vilayat Khan Sahab organized and systemized the structure of Gat-playing. After beautifying the Gat itself, the entire gat (Sthayi, Manjha, Antara, Amad) is played. Khan Sahab has done modification in the Peshkara ang, that was started by Enayat Khan Sahab and added different simple and complex tihais of samapad and vishamapad to that. Then simple and complex ‘chhand’ comes gradually. Few chhand starts from off-beat, followed by lay-kari (ranges from 3 gun to 16 gun of Vilambit lay). Ustad used to create outstanding Lyrical phrase which were generally established on the rhythmic phrases. Sometimes to give the listeners relief from the monotony of Chhand-Laykari, he used Bahlawa kind of phrases in between. After this ‘Chhand ka Vistar’, Khan Sahab used to play the gat itself in do- goon, tin goon and filled up the gap before coming to mukam with flexible tans and small tihais. Strong Bol-kari, Jamjama, gamak taan, chhut sapat taan with variety of tone, power, and elegance became hallmark of Vilayat Khan style of Gat Kari. Khan Sahab’s Yaman, Jaijaivanti, Ahir Bhairav, Jhinjhoti LP records are good examples to demonstrate this fact. Important point here is that in second half of his career Khan Sahab decreased the proportion of multiple avartan chhakradars, prefixed long tihais and pre-rehearsed rhythmic phrases significantly. One of the first hand listeners of Ustad explains how he captured the mass of Kolkata in 40’s with complicated tihais along with his hallmark tans.
Drut Gatkari:
Besides playing Raza Khani Gat, Khan Sahab used to play some Khayal Bandhishes and Tarana of ‘Khandani Mizaj’ as drut gats. In most of his concerts, Khan Sahab used to demonstrate the Bandish by singing the same.
Ustad’s critics always give question mark after his singing.
But this vocal demonstration becomes very much effective to make the listeners understand the relation of the Khayal Bandish and the Sitar Gat. For the same reason Tabla soloists also demonstrate the Tabla syllables by pronouncing the same, then replicating them on instrument.
After the gat kari, the ‘Bandish bharne ki kaida’ (filling the bandish with alankars) is a major portion that comes, which may come from the influence of Gwalior , Agra
The unique portion of this Gharana-style is ati drut taan kartab in Drut Gat Portion in such a laya, where maestros of rival gharana start jhala. All prakars of taan (types) are played with different anga with super fast speed, out standing perfection and crystal clear clarity. This ati drut tan kari ends with some pre fixed and improvised tihais. Khan Sahab was matchless in terms of technical mastery, perfected and polished execution of all prakars of tans at a phenomenal speed. Other than Ustad Vilayat Khan, his nephew Ustad Rais Khan can be considered as the only Tanaiyat of this superlative standard.
Khan Sahab occasionally played Saath Sangat in his concerts especially with Pt. Samta Prasad Ji on tabla in the yesteryears. But sample of those renditions are not available in public. The Sawal-Jawab kind of stunts were absent in his playing as those materials don’t have the characteristic dignity of Khan Sahab’s temperament.
Un-imaginable variation of Taan-Toras gets an end when Jhala comes. This gharana has always remained superior in playing pure and clean-chikari Jhala. Clear execution of DirDir Bol and a combination of patent dohara taan followed by a particular tihai is follwed by Double Jhala as well as single jhala (this tradition comes from Ustad Imdad khan). Khan Sahab has introduced mithas of his alap, gorgeous tone and perfect chikari jhankar in his jhala pattern. Vilayat Khan’s gharana never does the shortcut in playing jhala (changing the original bol in highest speed, making an illusion to the listeners as if the original bol is being played)
Vilayat Khani Gat:
According to Pt. Arvind Parikh, there were 3 phases in Khan Sahab’s Gat renditions.
- Purely Tantakar (Sitar) Gat
- Combination of Tantrakar (Sitar) and Gayaki Ang Gat
- Pure Gayaki Ang Gats
He has created numerous gats in all these three phases. Interestingly, the influence of his gats were Khayal bandishes. Instead of blindly copying the Vocal Bandish, he used to create his own instrumental version of the gat, introducing Sitar-Bols in that. In the later phase of his career, he created a large number of vocal compositions in the pen name of Nath Piya. It is very rare to have an instrumentalist who is such proficient in Vocal music.
Ustad Vilayat Khan introduced a special type of Gat which is based on a Madhya Laya Tempo, which is double of the speed of Vilambit Laya and half of the speed of the drut laya. In a private concert in Kolkata Khan Sahab demonstrated that kind of gat as ‘Vilayatkhani Gat’. His recordings on Alhaiya Bilawal and Suha Sughrai can be taken as example of such gats. Khan Sahab says: ‘I have tried to play this special kind of bandishes, But I have not created this kind of gat not to compete with Masit Khan and Raza Khan…Firoz Khani, Masit Khani, Raza Khani style has such influence that not only instrumentalists, but also vocalists are also adoptin those innovative structures…By grace of Almighty, I have also some contribution in playing Gats, which will be popularized as Vilayatkhani baaj’.
Thumri:
Ustad Enayat Khan was the first Sitarist to play Thumri on Sitar. Thumri takes its most beautiful for with its heart-blending impact in golden hands of Ustad Vilayat Khan. Banarasi Ang, Lukhnow Ang, Purab ka Ang, Dehli Ka Ang, Punjabi Ang, all these angs are present in Khan Sahab’s thumri rendition. Enayat Khan Sahab used to play many thumri ang gats and Vilayat Khan Sahab introduced new Thumri Bandishes that he had collected from Vocal Giants like Abdul karim Khan, Bade Moti Bibi. Khan Sahab’s thumri rendition is unique in terms of ‘Swara Granthana’ and ‘Swara Sangati’. He sometimes played arohan and abarohan of the mixture of different ragas with his outstanding aesthetic sense, which has been recorded in his Tilak kamod/Bhairavi LP. Khan Sahab’s Barwa, Bhiravi, Khamaj, Pilu, Mishra Gara are considered as the greatest recordings of all time. Khan Saab’s Pahadi thumri/ Mishra Khamaj Thumri can only be compared with Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab’s thumri renditions. Vilayat Khan Sahab was very fond of Barkat Ali Khan’s thumri style. Khan Sahab’s thumri could leave the listeners in the memory lanes full of nostalgic melancholy. After each and every concert, listeners were charmed by Vilayat Khani mizaj, even not being ready to listen to the next artists of the concert. Sri Deepak Raja says: ‘His renditions … acquired a haunting quality that often rendered his admirers sleepless after a concert. This nostalgia triggered off by his renditions in the Ustad’s thumri style renditions’. His vivid imagination made his thumri pieces so colorful. As widely believed, Vilayat Khan’s musical imagination was not dependent only upon Vocal Music. He has adopted musical ideas from each and every source which had appealed him, that may be a female street beggar’s song, chimes of London
Raag:
Though Vilayat Khan was well known to perform mostly on common ragas, he had vast in-depth vision on rarely heard ragas including jod and achhop ragas. In most part of his career, he performed on handful of matured ragas and his attempt was gradually exploring the depth of the raga and capturing the raga from different angles. He is said to be first traditional interpreter of grand matured ragas like Yaman, Bihag, Puria, Shree, Ahir Bhairo, Todi, Malkauns, Darbari, to name a few.
He preferred vertical development of musical values, in preference to the horizontal. Though he received intense talim from his family members, his quest for more and more knowledge on Raagdari forced him to collect Raga-ness and different vocal compositions of the rare and jod ragas from his peer vocalists. That’s why Khan Sahab is some times referred as ‘self-taught’ musician.
Critics say, Khan Sahab’s music some times has deviated from correct raga grammar. Fact is: Though Khan Sahab occasionally used to take ‘Poetic Liberty’ to implement ‘Avirbhav-Tirobhav’ kind of alankars, his treatment could never be considered as ‘waywardly’.
Khan Sahab never bothered to be consistent to maintain the unidirectional motion of the Raag. In different concerts, Khan Sahab always has done experiment to explore the ragas in greater and greater depth and look the raga from different angles. So, his each single recital used to create different impressions in the listener’s mind, even though he might have played the same raga in more than 1 concert.
Once in a concert he applied comparatively a greater proportion of Dhaivat in Bihag, which was hallmark of Lukhnow Gharana. In another concert, he added a ‘Kan
Most of the compositions played by Khan Sahab was on Teen Taal, which is considered as the ‘King of the Taals’ in Indian Classical Music. In second phase of his career, Khan Sahab has played Khayal ang vistaar on Vilamvit Ek-Taal and drut Ektaal (unpublished record on Shahana). Occasionally he has performed on Jhaap Taal and Roopak. Here are few first hand description of Ustad’s such concerts:
In 50’s he gave a fabulous performance in Kolkata with Kishen maharaj on tabla, where he played drut gatkari and jhala on Jhaap-Taal. Pt. Kanthe Maharaj was present in that concert.
In another morning session concert, organized by Calcuta Music Circle
In 70’s he played gats on drut ektaal very frequently.
Khan Sahab has composed many outstanding compositions on Jhap Taal, Roopak, Ektaal, Jhampak (11 Matra), 13 matra on different ragas. His composition on Hamsadhwani on drut ektaal, Desh on Jhap Taal, Bageshree on Madhya Laya ektaal and Bhairavi on Madhya laya Roopak (‘Tum ho Jagat ke Data’ – which he taught to great vocalist Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar) needs special mention here.
Perhaps Khan Sahab never performed on so called ‘and half’ taals, which don’t even have the stature to be called as ‘Taal ’. The probable cause for the same may be those do not have chrematistic match with his musical temperament.
He added the rhythm chemistry to his music in such a proportion that never came to his listeners as mechanical or tedious. His performances were not full of precision engineered tihais, and too much emphasis on rhythmic peak and trough. More over his music was not all about pre-rehearsed material. It was more about the spontaneity and improvisation on spot, which surprises even the musician himself. Khan Sahib's nephew Shahid Parvez has started playing Roopak, Jhaptaal, drut Ek-Taal etc more extensively, and has given a new dimension in Lay-Kari.
The most influential Instrumentalist:
As Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Sahab and Ustad Amir Khan Sahab are considered as the most influential vocalists of 20th Century, in case of instrument, this credit solely goes to Ustad Vilayat Khan. His magnificent Gayaki ang sitar baaj has successfully transmitted to next generation of his gharana. His music had highly influenced his contemporary doyens of other gharanas including Pt. Nikhil Bannerjee, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. Today, number of followers of Vilayat Khan is much more than the other gharana Sitar-payers. Today’s sitar world is being ‘ruled’ by Ustad’s brother, nephews, sons, disciples, grand-disciples, even followers.
Khan Sahab was one of the most charismatic musicians of India
Teed Rockwell, a disciple of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan writes: ‘Any one who plays the sitar, or any stringed Indian instrument today, owes him (Ustad Vilayat Khan) an incalculable debt. His vision of how the instrument should be played and built has become the standard by which all sitar players are now judged.’
We can conclude this article with a small note by veteran Sarodiya Pt. Buddhadeb Dasgupta. He says 'His (Vilayat Khan's) command over the instrument would leave me breathless, wondering if it was not a part of his body. He could do anything he liked with his sitar. The degree of, tayyari which he achieved led everyone else scrambling after him. But, for Khan saheb, mere tayyari was not enough, it took with it the accuracy of notes, overpowering musicality and the consistency of his raga logic to its limit. He could coax his sitar to sing, cry, coo and even shout, as and when the necessity arose. The directions and directional changes of his taans were unpredictable and full of surprises.
Over the years, he had developed a unique tonality, which, both in his music and in real life, made him stand in an unattainable position not just in today's music world but also among the veterans of Indian music. The quality and the variations of tonality he had mastered was something that has not been matched till date. This puts him truly above everyone else, in a class of his own. This unique tonal quality in his playing of the sitar would remind his audience of a speaker who is not just extremely powerful but also had a careless abandon about him.'
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