Recorded at Darbar Festival 2008, on 4th April, at the Phoenix Theatre, Leicester.

Musicians:
- Ustad Irshad Khan (surbahar)
- Sukhwinder Singh ‘Pinky’ (jori)
- Debipriya Das (tanpura)

Raag Darbari Kanada; Thaat: Asavari; Samay: Midnight

A fine exponent of both the sitar and the surbahar, Ustad Irshad Khan hails from the illustrious Etawah (‘Imdadkhani’) gharana. Apart from creating a legacy in sitar and surbahar, Ustad Khan’s ancestors also gave shape to the modern sitar, customising the design and mastering gayaki ang (vocal style).

Partnering with him on the rhythms is Sukhwinder Singh ‘Pinky’ who adds vigour to the soul of this concert. Singh’s open-handed, sensual playing coalesces with Ustad Khan’s sitar in leaping, prancing bouts and whirls into storms of thundering solos that burst with radiance and high energy.

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From a solemn mood, Khan swiftly shifts to one of heady romance with his sitar taking playfully to a radiant, joyful composition in medium tempo (madhyalay) Teental. The speed builds up to a fast one (drut) and yet faster (ati drut) where he plays a powerful jhalla or crescendo – the highly energetic segment with a strong rhythmic accompaniment where the main string is strummed rapidly with the chikari, an onomatopoeic word denoting the top-most string on the surbahar, strummed to maintain pulse and add to its polyphonic sound.

Ustad Khan demonstrates his concluding miniature with a short vocal presentation and follows with his sitar. A folksy tune from northern India, the first sentence of which centres around Raag Khamaj and then plays out into shades of other ragas, Khan tapers the energies beautifully from serious and heavy-set to romantic and finally to a playful, light-hearted melody.

Singh’s broad-based approach in this concert opens with a robust accompaniment of probing, dense bols attuned to the frosty, numbing strains of Darbari Kanada. The thicker textures shape-shift in joyful discontinuities to nimble, chirpy delineation of complex improvisations to suit the romantic behaviour of Bihag. The final folk piece leads to a heart-warming, extraordinary trade of crisp energies with Ustad Khan’s sitar.

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