Different Sitar Gharanas

All the Gharanas are mentioned except Etawah Gharana and Maihar Gharana - which are treated as the most prominent Sitar Gharanas today. There are several articles available on Internet on these two Gharanas and Maestros.

Jaipur Sitar Gharana

Bahadur Sen, son of legendary Masit Khan used to stay in Jaipur and continued to play Sitar. They used to use title ‘Sen’ after their names as they claimed themselves to be descendants of Miyan Taan Sen, i.e. member of Senia Gharana. Masit Khan’s nephew, Dulha Khan was n extraordinary Sitarist of his time.

Rahim Sen,  son of Sukh Sen, the ‘mul-purush’ of Senia Gharana , married the daughter of Dulha Khan. Rahim Sen got talim from both, father Sukh Sen and father-in-law Dulha Khan. Rahim Sen and his brother Hussain Khan were very popular Sitarists of their time. Amrit Sen(1813-1893), son of Rahim Sen was a Sitarist of very high caliber. He was patroned by Ram Singh Maharaja. Amrit Sen tried to imitate ‘Karak-Bijli’ taan of Gowalior exponents Haddu-Hassu Khan. He used to create tremendous impact on listeners by presenting difficult banishes (compositions). There were two prime disciples of Amrit Sen :

1) Nihal Sen (adopted son)

2)Amir Khan (nephew)

It is said that Amrit Sen had much contribution in evolution of Sitar baaj. Laikari, Chhand, Toda-Fikre (played in the same way as Fikar-Bandi) were very popular in his hands.

Niyamat Sen, elder brother of Amrit Sen also used to play Sitar.

Sudarshanacharya Sashtri was disciple of Amrit Sen.

Whatever flavor today we get in this century, has been transmitted through Nihal Sen.

Pran Krishna Chattopadhyay was direct disciple of Nihal Sen.

Fida and Fazal Hussain, son-in-laws of Nihal Sen were descendents of this gharana.

Haidar Hussain Khan Sahab was younger brother of Fazal Husain who popularized Jaipuri Baaj in last century.

Mamud Mirza was nephew of Fida-Fazal Hussain. Another good artist of Jaipur gharana was Wahid Khan (he is neither younger brother of sitar giant Ustad Enayet Khan, nor the Kirana giant).

Due to substantial effect of Rabab, the right hand craft was done more extensively compared to left hand. Meends were hardly used. Due to absence of Chikari string in Sitar Jhala was absent in their rendition. (Great sitar maker Kanai Lal Das received a Jaipuri Sitar for repair – which did not have any chikari peg at all.)

Pt. Ravi Shankar says, ‘Wahid Khan’s sitar playing was very ordinary, Haidar Hussain was staff artist of Delhi radio...he used to create an unique effect by making friction on frets with left hand fingers, while playing ‘dir-dir’ with right hand…He hardly used meend on sitar’.

Ustad Vilayat Khan also had listened to Haidar Hussain Khan and comments: ‘their right hand work was very strong’.

Jaipur tradition of sitar playing is the oldest style of sitar playing, it had more influence of Rabab style, so bol-vani of Sitar was very prominent in that style. Alap / Meend work was almost absent from that style of sitar playing in that era. Jhala was absent from that style, as chikari string was not developed in Jaipuri Sitar.

Gwalior Sitar Gharana (A Branch of Jaipur-Senia Gharana):

This Sitar-gharana was originated form Jaipur Gharana itself.

Amir Khan  - nephew of Jaipur Sitarist Amrit Sen was pioneer of this Gharana. He was court musician of Gwalior Palace. So, this gharana is named after the place Gwalior. Amir Khan became Rajguru (the teacher of the king) - Jayajidav's own son, Madhavarajji.

Amir Khan's most famous disciple was Barkatulla Khan, who also learned from Alladiya Khan (legendary vocalist of Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana).

His son-in-law Fazal Hussain was also reputed Sitarist.

Ustad Barkatullah Khan was a famous disciple of Amir Khan. One of the available recordings by Barkatullah Khan on raag Bhupali exemplifies the Gwalior style of Sitar playing. The resonance of strings other than Main and Jod strings are not audible at all in that recording. There is no stroke on Chikari string during rendition of Gat. Barkatullah Khan later moved to Mysore and was appointed a court musician of Mysore palace.

Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan (father and guru of famous and respected Sitarist Ustad Mustaq Ali Khan) of Varanashi was a famous disciple of Barkatullah Khan. As Amir Khan did not have any direct descendent, Fida Hussain and Fazal Hussain upheld the tradition of Gwalior Tradition. It is said that Fida Hussain returned back to Jaipur later.

Entire Gwalior players used to play ragas in lighter mood as well and their ‘Gat-Lahra’ was very famous among listeners.

A brief description of the Senia Sitar-Surbahar style is as below:

Alap was played in the Been-Style (Veena). Short length meends were pulled and it was prohibited to pull longer meend than that.

Two / three fingers of right hand were used (similar to Veena playing technique). ‘Da’ – used to be played with index finger upward stroke and ‘Ra’ - used to be played with middle finger downward stroke. Chikari string of Surbahar was played using little finger nail of right hand.

Ornamental materials and decorative elements were almost absent in that Sitar / Surbahar Style.

There was least possible use of Chikari in Surbahar style and Jhala was absent in the Jaipuri-Senia Style of Sitar playing.

Gamak / Halak Taan / Tihai were almost absent in that style and Alap-style Vistar used to dominate the entire recital.

Silsilah (direction of music) was not of very high quality in old Jaipuri Style of Sitar. Gat and Vistar type ang were only content in the whole performance.

Indore Gharana:

Ustad Bande Ali Khan – Beenkaar, who is believed to be founder of the famous Kirana Gharana was disciple of Nirmal Shah. Nirmal Shah was descendent of Saraswati – daughter of Miya Tansen.

Bande Ali Khan was son in law of Ustad Haddu Khan of famous Gwalior Khayal Gharana. Murad Khan was a prime disciple of Bande Ali Khan. Latif Khan (Guru of Ustad Mohammed Khan – father of Ustad Rais Khan Sitar maestro) was disciple of Murad Khan. Babu Khan also learnt from Murad Khan who was Guru of Zafar Khan, father of Ustad Abdul Halim Zafar Khan.

Muhammed Khan was married to Nasiran Begum – eldest daughter of Sitar maestro Ustad Enayet Khan. Rais Khan is their son.

Lucknow Gharana:

The prime musician of this Gharana was Ustad Omrao Khan – who was descendent of Tansen’s daughter. Ali Nakki – minister of Nawab Wajed Ali Shah’s court learnt from Omrao Khan.

Surbahar and Sitar maestro Ghulam Mohammed Khan (father of Sajjad Mohammed Khan - Surbahari) learnt from Omrao Khan.

Lucknow Gharana, essentially being a Sarod Gharana Niamatullah and his sons Karamatullah and Asadullah (Kukuv Khan). Kukuv Khan’s son was the great sitarist Waliullah Khan  [1890-1951]. Other great Sitarists who had connection with this Gharana were Yousuf Ali Khan [1877-1962] and Illiyas Khan  [1924-1989].

Kukuv Khan’s other disciples were Safikullah Khan, Nani Gopal Matilal, Harendra Krsihna Seal.

Pt. Arvind Parikh used to listen to Waliullah Khan’s sitar from Dhaka Radio and he thought him to be as one of the greatest sitarist at that point of time.

Pt. Ravi Shankar says: “I have listened to Waliullah Khan’s Sitar from Dhaka Radio for many times. His left hand work was very clear, especially Jamjama work – very crisp and clear.

Kalpi Gharana:

After banishment of Nawab Wajed Ali Shah, Ajam Khan, the Sitarist and Beenkaar used to stay in Lucknow. Abdul Goni, his son was a sitarist as well. He was court musician of Rai Berili. The great sitarist Yousuf Ali Khan [1877-1962] was his disciple. Illiyas Khan  [1924-1989] ;earnt from Yousuf Ali Khan.

Pt. Ravi Shankar says, “Yousuf Ali Khan’s Sitar was his choice as he had background of Dhrupad. He had good knowledge and depth in music. He used to play big sitar and had a touch of Surbahar style. He used to play Alap and a little Jod, followed by Madhya Vilambit gat, drut Gat Toda and Jhala. Kolkata Radio used to broadcast Illiyas Khan’s recital in yester years.

Varanasi Gharana

Bahadur Sen was descendent of Bilas Khan (Tansen’s son). Bahadur Sen’s disciple was Pannalal Bajpeyi who also learnt from Sadiq Ali (Son of Jafar Khan). Pannalal Ji used to use wear Mizrab in both his fingers (fore-finger and middle finger). Another great maestro of Benaras Gharana was Pashupati Shevak Mishra. He used to give vocal performance as well along withhis brother Shiva. Their father Ram Shevak Mishra used to learn music from Ali Mohammed (Badku Miyan). Pashupati Ji also learnt from Mohammed Hossain beenkaar. Pt. Bimal Mukherjee knew the style of Pashupati Ji. Bimal Babu’s father Amulya Chandra Mukhopadhyay was disciple of Pashupati Ji. Pashupati Ji’s another prime disciple was Bijay Das Pakde (Kolkata).

Banda Gharana:

This gharana was originated from Lucknow Gharana. Lucknow Sitarist Omrao Khan’s disciple was Ghulam Mohammad. Ghulam Mohammad’s son Sajjad Mohammad Khan was a great Sitarist and Sur Bahar player.Sajjad Mohammad Khan used to stay in Kolkata and he had many disciples including Sourendra Mohan Tagore and Bama Charan Bhattacharya. Bama Charan’s son Jitendra Mohan Bhattacharya and grandson Laxman Bhattacharya were great Sitarists of Kolkata.

It is said that Ustad Enayet Khan and Sourendra Mohan Tagore were the key persons behind the Sitar renesas in Kolkata. Two Sarod players Hossain Ali and Murad Ali learnt from Sajjad Mohammad Khan.

Darbhanga Gharana:

Balaram Pathak Ji of this Gharana was appointed in the Darbhanga court. His paternal uncle Ramswar Pathak was also court musician in Darbhanga. Rameshwar Pathak’s brother Ram Govinda Pathak was musician too. Rameshwar Ji’s repertoire had a fine balance of Meend work, Gamak, technical virtuosity, Jhala, Beenkaar ang as well.

Bishnupur Gharana:

Bishnupur of Bankura district was the centre of Dhrupad. Jadu Bhatta was highly influential person in his era. Bama Shankar Bhattacharya was a great singer in his time. Madhav, his son was a Beenkar and Ram Keshab, the other son used to play Esraj. Pt. Amiya Ranjan Bandopadhyay says Gopeswar Bandopadhyay, Surendra Nath Bandopadhyay, Ram Prasanna Bandopadhyay used to sing and play Sitar. Even Amiya Babu used to play Sitar in his earlier years. But his natural inclination was towards Vocal Music. The great Sitarist of recent past of this gharana was Pt. Gokul Nag, father of Mani Lal Nag. Manilal Nag is the prime Sitarist of this Gharana in recent time. Mani Lal Nag’s daughter Mita Nag is also a Sitarist.

Dhaka Gharana: Hari Charan Das was court musician of Dhaka.  His sons Chaitanya Das and Ratan Chand were SItarists.

Ratan Chand learnt from Mohammad Khan, a disciple of Sajjad Mohammad Khan of Banda Gharana.

Ratan Chand’s son Bhagwan Das was a great contemporary Sitarist. He received the title ‘Shetari’ from Mahatma Gandhi.

Strictly Copyrighted By Ramprapanna Bhattacharya.

Copyright © 2015. Ramprapanna Bhattacharya. All rights reserved; Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.