Aashish Khan's Sarod: The Sound of the Mughal Court

The Compositions

Raga Darbari Kannada

There is a majesty and dignity about this raga unlike any other. Even for first-rate musicians, it isn't easy to maintain the mood of the raga while performing it. Although extremely popular in northern India, younger musicians don't often play it because it is a heavy load for a younger performer to carry. It seems to be pervaded with a solemn air that demands attentive listening. It is said that the raga was created by the medieval musician, Tansen, but whether this is true or not remains unclear.

　　Vadi (principal tone): Ri(D)
　　Samvadi (secondary tone): Pa(G)
　　Performance time: late at night
　　Ascending movement--Indian: Sa Ri ga, Ma Pa dha, ni Sa
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　C scale: C D E♭, F G A♭, B♭ C'
　　Descending movement--Indian: Sa dha ni Pa, Ma Pa, ga Ma Ri, Sa
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　C scale: C' A♭ B♭ G, F G, E♭ F D, C

This is how the scale used in the raga looks when it is expressed in writing. In general, raga are explained as being a certain scale. Yet, it is, in fact, quite difficult to represent raga with such simple scales, and this is especially the case with a raga like Darbari Kannada. By looking at the descending movement, you will notice the complexity of it. In addition, the notes, ga (E♭) and dha (A♭), are always expressed through a slight wavering in pitch. This wavering (andolana) is actually the most characteristic feature of this raga.
The first half of the raga, until the tabla comes in, is a solo called alap. In this part, Aashish Khan perfectly conveys the mood of the raga.
The gat begins in the second half with the slow tempo of vilambit tintal, a sixteen-beat rhythm cycle. The second gat is a twelve-beat rhythm with a fast tempo called drut ektal.
In the gat, the performer spontaneously develops variations on the theme and melodic pattern of the raga. By making use of a variety of techniques, the melodic pattern is transformed, and at a certain agreed point in the piece, the musicians return to the original theme. As the main musician begins to repeat the theme, the tabla player spontaneously transforms the rhythm. As the two players continue to repeat these exchanges, the tempo gradually quickens until both musicians reach a speed that tests the limits of their technical ability; their entire bodies enter such a state of excitement that they seem to be headed for a catastrophe of some kind. The way the two brothers, Aashish and Pranesh, are able to perform such perfectly harmonized exchanges is truly sublime.

Raga Mishra Bhairavi

The third piece performed by Aashish Khan is a morning raga, Mishra Bhairavi, based on the dadra tal six-beat rhythm cycle that is often used in folk songs. Bhairavi is ordinarily performed at the end of a concert. The scale is as follows:

Indian scale: Sa ri ga Ma Pa dha ni Sa
　　　　　　C scale: C D♭ E♭ F G A♭ B♭ C'

The ascending and descending movement of the piece is straight up and down the scale. The word mishra means "mixed" and Aashish Khan freely improvises by mixing in notes that are not included in those listed above. Coming as it does after such a "heavy" raga as Darbari Kannada, the performance of this raga is filled with the cheerful spirit of release as if a weight had been lifted from one's shoulders.

The Performers

Aashish Khan

In 1939, Aashish Khan was born the first son in a family of musicians that include his father, Ali Akbar Khan, the modern master of the sarod, and grandfather Allauddin Khan. His musical training began at the age of five under the tutelage of his grandfather. Allauddin Khan, who could be called the father of the revitalization of contemporary northern Indian classical music, has produced a galaxy of outstanding musicians. His son, Ali Akbar Khan, along with his daughter, Annapurna Devi, Ravi Shankar, and the late Nikhil Banerjee, is truly one of the key figures in contemporary Indian music. Aashish, as the direct descendant of such a brilliant musical lineage, is generally recognized as the legitimate heir to the Indian musical tradition. From his formal debut at the age of thirteen, he has performed constantly with outstanding musicians such as his father, grandfather, and Ravi Shankar, not only in India but all over the world. From the time he took part in the recording of the first album on the Beatles' Apple Records, Wonderwall/George Harrison (1968), as a guest musician, Khan had already become well-known in the United States and Europe.
His musical eminence, which ably incorporates the masterly technical skills he developed over many years as a backing musician in what was for him a period of ascetic practice, was being recognized at home and abroad. Yet at the same time, he continually tried to expand his musical possibilities as a bold reformer. As projects such as the forming of Shanti in 1969, and the fusion group, The Third Eye, and the composition of "A Sarod Concert," so well attest. Further, by looking at the collaborations he has performed with jazz, fusion, and classical musicians, and how active he has been internationally in such areas as movie soundtracks, it is clear that he is a much too diverse and energetic musician to be tied down any longer with the label, "Indian classical musician." In 1989, Khan was named as Ravi Shankar's successor to the post of composer/conductor of Vadya Vrinda, All-India Radio's national orchestra.
Besides being busy performing and composing, Khan teaches at the Ali Akbar College of Music (San Rafael, California) and the University of Washington in Seattle, and has countless pupils throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, Africa, and India.

Pranesh Khan

Born in 1950, Pranesh is the younger brother of Aashish Khan. No exception to the brilliant musical family to which he was born, Pranesh was immersed in a rich musical environment as a child and began his own career by playing percussion instruments such as the tabla. Not only is he an accompanist to many of the principal figures in Indian classical music, he is internationally active as a tabla player through his collaborations with musicians in Western music, movie soundtracks, and fusion. He is also the secretary-general of the Ali Akbar College of Music.

The Sarod

The sarod is a plucked instrument with twenty-five strings. In the left hand a plectrum (Java) made from the hard shell of a coconut is used to pluck the strings. The body of the instrument is made by hollowing out a single piece of hardwood such as teak or mahogany and stretching the skin of a mountain goat over it. The fingerboard is a smooth piece of iron without frets. The strings, of various diameters, are all steel. There are four for performing the melody and three javari strings that are tuned according to the raga that is being performed. There are also three strings called chikari that are used for setting the rhythm and creating drones. The remaining fifteen, called taraf, are resonating strings and are tuned to fit the scale of the raga. On the reverse side of the neck from the fingerboard, there is a brass bowl called the tumba to create additional resonance.
Because the form of the sarod is very similar to the rabab, a Middle Eastern instrument, there is a theory that the sarod was not originally from India. However, it becomes clear from looking at the rough shapes depicted in the frescoes at the ruins of Ajanta (second to eighth centuries A.D.) and Amaravati (first century B.C. to second century A.D.) that this type of instrument has been in India for quite a long time. There are various explanations about how the sarod came to have its present form, but according to Aashish Khan, his grandfather, Allauddin Khan, and his great-uncle, Ayet Ali Khan, were responsible for making improvements on the instrument's originally short, narrow fingerboard, extremely thick neck, and comparatively few strings. Aside from its history and origin, the sarod remains in popular use as one of the principal stringed instruments in Indian classical music (Hindustani music).------Translated by CHRISTOPHER STEPHENS