Rudra Veena exponent Ustad Asad Ali Khan passes away - In his memory: a recording from a concert in Darmstadt, Germany in 1995

Rudra Veena exponent Ustad Asad Ali Khan, one of the last existing advocate of the Khandarbani dhrupad school, passed away in the wee hours here today.

He was 74.

The classical musician, who represents the 12 generation of Jaipur's Beenkar Gharana, breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Science at around 2:30 am, his adopted son and disciple Ustad Ali Zaki Haidar told PTI.

"I had taken Ustad ji to hospital in the evening for a routine check-up and he was admitted around 7 pm. They conducted routine tests. Around 2:00 am while he was watching TV in his air-conditioned room, I noticed he was sweating. He passed away a little later," Haidar said.

Ustad Khan who was unmarried is survived by his nephew Haidar whom he had adopted as his own son at a very young age and trained to become his successor, said Pawan Monga, a disciple of the Rudra Veena exponent.

The musician, who received the Padma Bhushan in 2008 underwent training under his father Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan Beenakar. His father, grandfather Ustad Musharraf Ali Khan Beenakar and great-grandfather Ustad Rajab Ali Beenakar were court musicians in the princely state of Alwar where Ustad Asad Ali Khan was born in 1937.

His father later moved to the princely court of Rampur where he undertook to teach him music. For the next 15 years he learnt to play Rudra Veena, practicing 14 hours a day.

Ustad Khan was a artiste of the All India Radio and participated in 'sangeet samelans' and musical performances across the country and the world. He has also performed at concerts in Afghanistan, Australia, Holland, Italy, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the US and other countries.

Ustad Khan has also been a professor of music at Delhi University.

Rudra Veena, an instrument said to be created by Lord Shiva, has remained essentially unchanged for millennia.

It comprises a bamboo piece mounted on two gourds and has 19-24 frets fixed with beeswax with four main and three side strings having a range of four to four and half octaves. Unlike a sitar or sarod, the rudra veena does not have resonance strings.

Ustad Khan used to play dhrupad in tile Khandarbani style, which is one of the four ancient styles of Indian music. It is named after Khanda, the Rajput warrior's traditional sharp curved sword.

from: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_rudra-veena-exponent-ustad-asad-ali-khan-passes-away_1554898

As a tribute to him we present here a concert in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1995. Our friend KF recorded it from its broadcast in february 1996, made a CD out of it and created nice covers. Many thanks to him.

flac

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See also the recent post by our dear friend Bolingo of the only LP by the Ustad:
http://bolingo69.blogspot.com/2011/06/ustad-asad-ali-khan-rudra-vina-p1978.html

Lal Mani Mishra - Vichitra Veena - Cassette Ravi Shankar Music Circle - RSMC-10 (1979)

Side 1:

Basant Bahar (30:40)

Side 2:

Bhairavi (16:01)

Tabla Solo in Teental (14:30)

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Chandrashekhar Naringrekar - Surbahar - Swarashree-CBS cassette (1989)

Side A:

Raga Malkauns (28:51)

Side B:

Raga Marwa (28:44)

Pakhawaj: Arjun Shejwal

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Bilton - & Hamidullah - Vol. 1 - Cassette from Afghanistan

Afghan singer and musician Biltoon dies in Kabul

By ZABIHULLAH MOOSAKHAIL - Mon Nov 09 2015, 3:11 pm

Renowned Afghan singer and musician Biltoon who recorded around 1,000 songs in Pashto and Dari languages during career died in capital Kabul on Monday.

Ismael Saadat an Afghan journalist with BBC and fan of Ustad Biltoon says “Bilton was ruling hearts, his demise will certainly leave a huge void in the hearts of his fans and the Afghan folk music.”

Throughout his decades-long career, Ustad Biltoon recorded several songs for Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA). He was 22-year-old when he recorded his first song “Dil Man Za Amayat Para Para-Ka me Wakhli Khabar Ay Nigara”, a Dari Pashto mixed song, at RTA.

Ustad Biltoon was a talented singer who had memorized more than 200 songs most of which belonged to renowned poet Bahai Jan. Ustad Biltoon mainly had two instructors Ghulam Jailani (see our previous post) and Salam Logari. From Jailani he learnt to play the Rubab and Tanbur. 

Born, according to his relatives,  in 1913 (this can't be true; according to other infos he was in his 90s when he passed away. So his birth date was probably around 1923) in Chakri area of Kabul province, Ustad Biltoon was still a child when his parents died. After the demise of his parents, Ustad Biltoon whose original name was Momen Khan moved to Charkh District of Logar province and stayed most of his life there.

from: https://www.khaama.com/afghan-singer-and-musician-bilton-dies-in-kabul-4095/

I still don't know if it is proper to name this music Logari Music. Definitely it is a very fine folk music tradition played by professional musicians and it was very popular in Afghanistan. Hamidullah Charikari comes from the the same tradtion and they often performed together.

In the West never a CD was published by these excellent singers and musicians, or any by one of them or similar musicians of the same tradtion. I think this a missed chance. Now it is too late for well-known reasons. In a recording done in the West one could have insisted on leaving out the Harmonium. Then one would have had a beautiful recording of good singing with an ensemble of Rabab, Tambur, Sarinda and Dhol. The interaction between the musicians is always fascinating.

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Ostad Jilani - Robab Mehfil - Cassette from Afghanistan

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Ghulam Jailani

An outstanding rubab player in Kabul in the 1970s was Ghulam Jailani, one of the five musician sons of Ustad Nabi Gol. He had adopted a rather more Hindustani-like approach to the rubab, with greater use of the unfretted range, more dynamic variety, less repetition of the fixed composition, and more elaborate improvisations in comparison with other players, often using fast down-up stroke patterns. Unlike most other players he made little use of parandkari techniques, though he does frequently strum across all the sympathetic strings. He was sometimes criticised for playing the rubab too much like the Indian sarod, even though he did not use much in the way of sarod-like glissandi.

I met him in his family home in the Kharabat on 6 June 1976, when I had the opportunity to record him playing two long pieces, accompanied by tabla. At the time he told me he was influenced by the playing of sarod players such as Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, whom he had heard on the radio, record or cassette. The first piece he played for me was in Rag Gorahkalyan, accompanied by his brother Wali Nabizada on tabla. For this rag he used an alternative tuning, with the lower melody string tuned down from C# to B and the middle string tuned down from F# to E.

After an extended shakl the astai section starts 4'45'' in from the beginning of the piece and is in Ektal, a 12 matras cycle. At 6'59'' Jailani exclaims somewhat boastfully 'Up till now nobody has played an astai in Ektal.' In this astai there are long improvised rhythmic sections, but with no clearly defined naghma. The naghma-ye drut (fast naghma) begins at 10'44'' and is in Tintal. At 19'10'' he moves into the doubly fast naghma-ye drut drut. Only at this stage does he start using the sim-e barchak, in a way that hints at playing jhala on the sarod.

The second piece Jailani described as a thumri in Rag Pilu and is remarkable for its modulations from one rag to another. His brother Latif takes over on tabla. In the shakl he modulates to Rag Kafi and then back to Pilu. The astai starts at 3'40'' and is in Chanchar Tal, a rare metric cycle of 14 matras (Dha Dhin ¬– – Dha Dha Tin, Ta Tin – – Dha Dha Dhin). In this astai section Jailani modulates through a series of rags in ragmala style before returning to Pilu. After the recording Jailani identified these as Pardepki, Madhubanti, Bilawal, Bairami and Sultankauns, but Pardepki and Sultankauns are not to be found in the usual sangits (rag dictionaries). Further analysis is required. Here Jailani is showing off his knowledge of little-known rags and his skill in stringing them together. This kind of serial modulation is not common in Afghanistan. At 7'39'' he interpolates a short section in fast rhythm, then reverts back at 8'22'' to the slow Chanchar Tal. At 13'54'' the naghma-ye drut begins, and is in Tintal.

Jailani's innovative approach probably influenced the virtuoso styles of a younger generation of rubab players from the Kharabat, such as Homayun Sakhi and Khial Mohammed Saqizada.

John Baily

from: http://www.oart.eu/joomla/naghma-ye-klasik

Senior Dagar Brothers - Music of India - Vol. 5 - LP Columbia C 062-80105 - French edition of EALP 1291

Dagar Brothers: Ustad Moinuddin Khan & Aminuddin Khan

Mridang (Pakhawaj): S.V. Patwardhan

Side 1:

Alap - Raga Darbari Kanada (18:17)

Side 2:

Dhamar - Raga Darbari Kanada (8:17)

Dhrupad - Raga Adana (9:21)

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This is - as promised to Bolingo - the French edition of the same LP of which he had posted two Indian pressings.

See: http://bolingo69.blogspot.com/2011/06/senior-dagar-brothers-darbari-kanada.html

Hameed Ali Khan & Fateh Ali Khan (Gwalior Gharana) - Vol. 2 - Lok Virsa CL-0023 (1987)

Sarangi: Alla Rakha Khan

Tabla: Muhammad Ajmal

Side A:

Raag Lalat (29:25)

Side B:

Raag Bihag (30:12)

Cassette from Lok Virsa, Islamabad, Pakistan

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Ustad Mohammed Shareef Khan Poonchhwala (Sitar) - ALPC-11 (1969)

Tabla: Ustad Allah Ditta Khan

Side 1:

Raag Baihaag (Bihag) (25:14)

Side 2:

Raag Kirwani (24:38)

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Ustad Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan - Sitar Through Ages - ECSD 2753 (1976)

Side 1:

1. Soofiana Rang (8:55)

2. Gat Bhimpalasi (4:36)

3. Zila Kafi (5:19)

Supported by:

Sitar: Qutubuddin Aasman & Kausar Halim Khan

Tabla: Sadashiv Pawar, Dholak: Abdul Karim

Side 2:

Raga Farghana (19:43)

Tabla: Abdul Karim

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Nikhil Banerjee - Raga-Musik aus Nordindien - Harmonia Mundi 20-29101-4

Tabla: Ustad Feijaz (Faiyaz) Khan

Side 1:

Charukesi (23:05)

Side 2:

Bhairavi (23:49)

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Pakistani Soul Session - LP published in UK in 1967

This most wonderful LP was my first introduction to Raga Music in 1968 and took me completely. It was for at least two decades my absolute favourite LP and is till today one of my favourites. From this LP also comes my love for the Sarangi as it has one of the greatest Sarangi players ever. Also noteworthy is the great Tabla player Allah Ditta Khan (1910-1968). Other wonderful musicians: Salamat Hussain Khan, the leading Flute player of Pakistan in these years and the legendary Ustad Khamisso Khan, playing the double-flute Alghoza, a folk instrument of Sindh.

Side 1

1. Raag Bagesri - Ustad Nathu Khan (Sarangi) & Ustad Allah Ditta Khan (Tabla)

2. Bhatiali - Salamat Hussain Khan (Flute), Abdur Rahman (Flute), Muntaz Ali Khan (Dotara), Yasin Khan (Ektara), Idd Mohammad (Tabla)

3. Taal Trital - Ustad Allah Ditta Khan (Tabla)

4. Raag Pilu - Salamat Hussain Khan (Flute), Abdul Ghafoor (Mandolin), Idd Mohammad (Tabla)

Side 2

1. Koihari - Ustad Khamisso Khan (Alghoza), Abdul Ghafoor (Mandolin)

2. Raag Lalit - Ustad Nathu Khan (Sarangi) & Ustad Allah Ditta Khan (Tabla)

3. Pahari - Ustad Khamisso Khan (Alghoza), Abdul Ghafoor (Mandolin)

4. Raag Malkosh - Ustad Nathu Khan (Sarangi) & Ustad Allah Ditta Khan (Tabla)

See: http://www.johnpeelcentre.com/john-peel-s-hidden-gems-no-15-pakistani-soul-session/

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Ustad Nathu Khan

(1920 - 1971)

    The illustrious Nathu Khan is perhaps the greatest sarangi player of his time, and his recordings are still gaining popularity and recognition by music connoisseurs of today. He was born in Amritsar in nineteen twenty. His father Baba Ballay was a Tabla player. He got his initial training of sarangi playing from his uncle Ferozdin and other elders of the family. Later he became a formal disciple of the great Ahmadi Khan of Delhi. He also learned intricacies of classical music from Maula Bakh of the Talwandi Gharana. After the partition he became a staff artist with Radio Pakistan, Karachi.

    From a very young age he showed great promise, during his very first public performance in a sarangi festival held in Amritsar, his rendition of raga Shudh Sarang was so complete and skillful that all other sarangi players refused to play after him for fear of comparison. He was the master of rhythm, and his Tayyari and Laykari were unmatched. Apart from playing complex rhythmic patterns his Taans were also lightening fast which are still unmatched. He was among the pioneers who introduced solo sarangi playing in Pakistan, known undoubtedly as the best solo sarangi player Pakistan has produced. His rendition of ragas showed his deep knowledge of our classical music as well as his complete command over this difficult instrument. He was also a great accompanist and played with almost all the great vocalists of his time, including Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Salamat Ali Khan, Nazakat Ali Khan, Ashiq Ali Khan, Roshan Ara Begum and Umeed Ali Khan. Ustad Salamat Ali Khan referred to Nathu Khan as his "camera", admitting his genius as an accompanist, second to none, Nathu Khan was his most favored sarangi player.

    Nathu Khan traveled the world over and achieved international fame. He was among the very few sarangi players who were also good at composing and arranging music. He composed many songs for films and radio, during his association with Radio Pakistan, Karachi. As a composer he used the name N.K Naseer. He died in nineteen seventy one after a short illness. His son Mujahid Hussain is also a distinguished composer.
From: http://zohaibhassanamritsari.com/Zohaib_Hassan/Amritsari_Historical_Figures.html

Ustad Allah Ditta

Nazakat Ali & Salamat Ali Khan - Raag Malkauns & Bhopali - ALPC. 14

Sarangi: Ustad Nathu Khan

Tabla: Ustad Allah Ditta Khan

Side One: 

Raga Bhopali (27:44)

Side Two: 

Raga Malkauns (27:56)

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