ALI AKBAR KHAN - PLAYS ALAP (1993)

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Two disc set of solo sarode. “Shri Rag (Rag Shri) is a serious rag for the hours of sunset and twilight. Expressed in the mood, the qualities of devotion (bhakti) and heroism (vir) are supreme with touches of pathos (karuna). A particular character of the rag is brought out in the inflection of the flatted second scale degree, or komal re. It is several degrees flatter than it might be intoned in Western tuning and further, is played with the slow wavering of pitch known as andolan. The quality of this note is very strong in the coloring of the rag, and puts a virtuostic demand on the player to keep the rag pure.

Evening Rag  Pilu Baroowa (Light Classical Rag):

Pilu Baroowa is a popular rag now almost always rendered in the light classical style with a restless and charming mood (chanchal ras). Love and joy are mixed with a nostalgic and touching pathos. It is to be played in the late-afternoon or evening. There are several forms of the rag Pilu, and when it is played in the light classical thumri style, as Khansahib does in this recording, the note motion incorporates several of the older classical forms of the rag as well as a specific lullaby which lays at the heart of its expression. Nearly all of the notes, with the possible exception of the raised fourth degree (tivra ma) can be employed.

Evening Rag  Ragini Iman Kalyan:

The rag Iman Kalyan, one of the central ragas in the repertory of nearly every North Indian musician should be played in the evening. The rag is sometimes called simply Yaman, or Iman, and even just Kalyan, but in the Baba Allauddin Gharana (the tradition named after Khansahib's father), the version played is specifically named Iman Kalyan, or Yaman Kalyan and has a slightly more restricted melodic movement than is found in many popular versions of the rag. The moods of peace (shanti) and devotion are here also tinged with pathos, but love and joy (shringar) are also found. Late stages of the rendering may bring out some heroic mood as well: in short, it is a rag with a vast aesthetic range of possibilities. Evening Rag