The strong influence of dhrupad, beenkar and Seniya rabab traditions on sitar and sarod players are evident in their influence on the evolu...
The strong influence of dhrupad, beenkar and Seniya rabab traditions on sitar and sarod players are evident in their influence on the evolution of sitar and sarod technique, repertoire and presentation. Equally, sitar and sarod players have been influenced by khayal and this too is obvious in their performances.
In the sixth episode of our series exploring multi-instrumentalists and those who are equally at ease with instrumental music as with vocal music, we listen to three musicians who have each played on an instrument different from their main instrument.
In the case of the renowned sitar player Vilayat Khan, we listen to two tracks with the same raag. The first track has an aalaap or introductory movement of the raag Bilaskhani Todi played by him on the sitar.
The following track features a surbahar recital by Vilayat Khan. Simply put, the surbahar is a bass and larger version of the sitar and therefore lends itself to extended aalaaps or introductory movements replete with meends or long glides between notes and gamaks or quick oscillations around notes. Listeners will also note that the instrument is tuned almost to the fifth of the lower tonic of the sitar from the earlier...
