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Dear Friends, Music Lovers & Musicians,

beside the priceless video recordings of my Guruji Ustad Asad Ali Khan there are also a lot of audio recordings in my archive. The days of CDs & Co are gone, so most of this material would never see the light of a publishing day. A good reason to use this channel also for publishing some of these timeless pearls.

The beginning I will make with a quite unique recording: Ustad Asad Ali Khan accompanying his father Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan in a recording of Raga Yaman. On Pakhawaj both are accompanied by Pandit Ayodhya Prasad, the favorite accompanist of Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan.

Listening to those great Beenkars recalls the times when I set in class with Ustadji playing my first phrases of Yaman, the typical beginner lesson.

Leave aside the poor audio quality of the recording, it’s an interesting leap in time to see what was Veena playing a like in the middle of the 20th century.

You might note the sharp open Javari sound of the instruments, well supported by the use of metal Mizrab (plectrum) for the right hand strokes on the strings. The comparatively short sound sustain of those instruments was compensated by a high stroke density in the Alap and in the faster Angs (parts).

The faster tempo right from the beginning of the Alap and the complex stroke variations are typical for the style of the Jaipur Beenkar Gharana, as which Ustad Asad Ali Khan classified his musical family tradition. The dynamic progression paired with fast rhythmical varied strokes in high density culminating in the Thok Jhala and the heavy use of fast Gammak Alamkaras (ornaments) are showing the dominance of Khandarbani elements in this style of Veena playing.

Equal the composition part accompanied by the Pakhawaj shows a very instrumental version of an Dhrupad in Chautal. The short introduction of the Gat or Bandish Mukra (main motive) is directly followed by improvised exploration. In this way also the Antara (second part of the composition) is reached as an improvised approach of the Tar Sadja (higher octave). Notable is here the complex right hand bol execution in maximum speed by Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan, which are closely followed by similar patterns on the Pakhawaj, reflecting the sath character (simultaneous play of rhythmical phrases) of percussion accompaniment for most of the time.

It is also a good reference of how Beenkars tried to keep up in the instrumental competition the Veena had to stand with the popularization of Sitar, Sarod and other string instruments who were more fit to answer the musical demand of the 19th and 20th century. Apart from the competition factor there must have been of course also a lively mutual influence between the playing techniques of the Maestros - especially on places with a big number of great musicians like the Rampur court, where Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan served as court musician of Nawab Raza Ali Khan. The same place, where Ustad Allauddin Khan took lessons from Ustad Wazir Khan, the famous Beenkar from the Senia Gharana.

Enjoy this special Veena recording.
Carsten

PS: Special snapshot: Ustadji as handsome youngster on the right of this unique photo :-)