Raga Bhankar

Artist: Ustad Vilayat Khan
Label: India Archives
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 731838103020
EAN: 0731838103020
ASIN: B00000165G

Release Date: 1997-09-16

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Tracks:

Raga Bhankar: Alap - Ustad Vilayat Khan
Raga Bhankar: Madhya/Drut Gat In Tintal - Ustad Vilayat Khan/Akram Khan

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Customer Reviews:

Not Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee or Shahid Parvez.......2006-02-18

True Vilayat Khan was a great musician. but he certainly lacked the raagdari and laya Kari of Ravi Shankar and Nikhil Banerjee. Shahid Pervez observed this lack in the Etawah gharana and ameliorated his playing to a level never played by anyone in his lineage. Any one who truly knows Indian music will tell you Shahid Pervez has by far surpassed Vilayat. I understand Vilayat Khans fans have to keep the old glory alive, but lets call a spade a spade.
Kishan maharaj recently played with Shahid Parvez and after the concert he also explicitly said that Shahid has topped the etawah clan.

A Great Symphony from India's Beethoven!!.......2006-02-14

This is the best and most impressing interpretation of raga Bhairavi I have ever heared. Vilayat is definitely the greatest Indian musician and sitarist in the 20th century, and I would call him "India's Beethoven" because of his musical mood and style. I have always prefered Vilayat Khan's gharana and style to those of Ravi Shankar's, and I think that no Indian musician has yet reached the maturity and mastery of Ustad Vilayat Khan.

The CD is about 60 minuts long, with the alap over 36 minuts. Khan Saheb's performance is complex as he uses many accidentals and shifts to several other ragas. Khan Saheb uses many themes and melodies and with much innovation that would definitly rise much controversy if he was less prestigous or less famous.. But simultaniously, these innovations and variety of themes make Ustad Vilayat Khan's performance Raga Bhairavi an immortable symphony that will never ever be forgotten or ignored.

It's true that Shahid Parvez is an elegant and very skillful sitarist, but he has by no means surpassed Ustad Vilayat Khan in musical maturity and expression. Just listen to Shahid Parvez when he plays Raga Bhairavi - alap, he is almost immitating Ustad Vilayat Khan!! And not only in that performance is Ustad Vilayat's touch prevalent in his performance, but also in all his other performances, although he doesn't want to admit that.

Finally, I think it's some sort of folly or blind hatred to give two or three stars to such a great and widely acknowledged album like this one.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!

Not your run of the mill disc.......2004-10-05

Here's something you don't see everyday: a CD purely comprised of alap. I've seen Ali Akbar Khan do it, and I think that's about it. Nikhil Banjerjee had a two disc raga where the first disc was alap...but I can't think of others. Truth be known, not many performers could carry a purely alap performance and make it interesting for the length of a CD.

This rendition of "Bhairavi" by Vilayat Khan is interesting to say the least. He gets sounds out of the sitar I've never heard before. There's one part where it sounds like he's slapping the strings like an acoustic guitarist. I once read an interview with Khan where he said he wanted to really stretch the boundaries on some recordings and that he chose the India Archive sessions to do it. Every Vilayat Khan CD in their catalogue I've heard (about 5-6) truly stands apart from the rest of his work, much less that of other performers. That's not to say that his work for other labels isn't terrific (it is), it's just these performances are "different."

This is a sober raga and Khan wrings plenty of emotion out of it. It's about a 50 minute disc, split half and half between pure alap and jor (alap with a pulse.) This certainly isn't for everyone, as it is pretty "advanced listening." I love the CD and listen to it all the time, but I wouldn't recommend this disc as a starting place. Like others have said, his music (and that of Nikhil Banerjee) prove that there's definately more than one person that could be considered greatest sitarist of the 20th century.

Beautiful, moving, complex, skillful, recommended.

Heavenly..........2004-01-16

Wonderful! Being a novice in the nuances and intricacies of the grammer of Indian Classical music, I can only tell you the about the feelings that this great performance brings to the listener. This was the second Vilayat Khan piece I heard, the first being a rendition of Raag Darbari Kanada, and I am absolutely moved by the depth of emotion his sitar can bring. I cannot really distinguish his style with the many others you hear in terms of technicalities, but in case you want to have a rendez-vous with some of the finest feelings in your heart, listen to this CD.

Yes, there is more than one living sitar master!.......2002-04-04

I've finally decided to start getting around to some reviews of the music of northern India.

I decided to make this my first "sitar review" because I feel the world needs to know about more than just Ravi Shankar. Not that Ravi isn't a top-notch musician, but no, he is not the end-all and be-all of Indian music like some people would have you believe.

This is one of my favorite Viliyat Khan cd's. There is no tabla accompaniment here (as some of you already knew as soon as you saw that there were no gats in the track list). The lack of tabla sort of allows the sitar to take up the entire sonic spectrum, leaving us with a very warm and rich sounding sitar tone throughout this cd. Again, Ravi is not the be-all and end-all... Viliyat's sitar tone and playing style are completely unlike Ravi's.

I'm not sure how I should describe Viliyat's playing style. On one hand, his playing on this cd, Raga Bhairavi, is tranquil and meditative... you feel like you can listen to this cd and just drift away on a dream. On the other hand, there is always an impending tension in Viliyat's playing. As if he is on the verge of going to battle. No one plays meditative war music with the grace and danger of Viliyat Khan.

If you're interested in some of the other brilliant musicians on the India Archive label (many of whom are indeed brilliant but have also been overshadowed by the mainstream recognition of Ravi Shankar) let me recommend acoustic slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya (though you have to spell it "Debashis" to search for him on this site). Deb's cd's like Raga Saraswati and Raga Bhimpalasi will be a revelation to those of you who thought Vishwa Mohan Bhatt was the premiere guitarist of northern India.

Viliyat Khan's son, Shujaat Khan (also a sitarist), has established himself as a master of playing with other string players. Examples of this can be found in two of the cd's by Ghazal...Lost Songs Of The Silk Road, and As Night Falls On The Silk Road... two wonderful cd's that magically combine Iranian and north Indian classical musics.

To sum up, if you already love Viliyat then this is an essential cd for you. On the flipside, if you're really only aware of Ravi's style of sitar then this is also an essential cd for you because it will help in illustrating the broader world of Hindustani classical music for you.

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