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*For a roundup of posts on raga, with a general introduction, see here!*

In my earlier post on rag Yaman I focused on dhrupad, so that by the time I reached the sitar I contented myself with the great Nikhil Banerjee. Thanks to Daniel Neuman we can now admire versions by some other masters.

Vilayat Khan (cf. his rāg Malkauns here) gave a classic exposition in 1968, accompanied by Manik Rao Popatkar:

Dispensing with alap, he launches into a leisurely gat in 16-beat tintal, with 1st-beat cadences often falling on Ga. He plays mellifluous phrases in even quavers, as in the extended passage from 4.59, and again from 9.54 and 10.40, with easy syncopations. Moving on upwards, patterns revolve around cadences on Pa from around 11.56, Ni from 13.37, top Sa by 16.01, but still often balanced by cadences on Ga, with top Ga from 17.45, and a flow of gorgeous melodic phrases from 18.04. In the final section from 19.17 he sets off again in the middle register, soon leading to faster patterns, with bursts of energy punctuating the metre.

From 23.46 he begins another gat, still in tintal. From 33.58, great syncopated energy around phrases setting forth from sharp MaPa MaPa lead to a fast drut laya from 38.57, always firmly melodic.

And here’s his younger brother Imrat Khan on surbahar (bass version of sitar) in 1974:

As on the rudra vina, the glides are most affecting. Even the high passages from 23.33 are full of rhythmic creativity.

Here are both brothers in duet:

On sarod, here’s Ali Akbar Khan in 1982:

Just one single rag generates such a wealth of melodic creativity…

For a roundup of other posts in this series, click here.