#darbarfestival | Nishat Khan plays a mournful and almost bluesy rendition of Darbari, running agile shapes through the jor’s steadily increasing pulse.
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Learn more about the music:
Nishat Khan hails from the illustrious Etawah (‘Imdadkhani’) gharana alongside greats such as Shahid Parvez, Vilayat Khan, and Imrat Khan (his father and main teacher). His ancestors gave shape to the modern sitar, customising the design and mastering gayaki ang (singing style). He grew up immersed into music, skipping school to practice and staying up all night to analyse concerts he had seen that evening. He credits his grandmother Inayat Khan with playing a pivotal role in his training too. He has since taken his sitar into jazz, flamenco, and Gregorian chant, and worked with greats such as Philip Glass, Evelyn Glennie, and John McLaughlin as well as continual classical touring. Younger listeners may have unwittingly heard him already - in 2009 he played sitar on Weezer’s Love is the Answer.
Darbari is described by musicologist Deepak Raja as “the emperor of ragas, and the raga of emperors”. The word ‘darbar’ refers to to the royal courts of past ages, and it is easy to imagine Darbari’s majestic tones echoing across marble floors, bringing solemn relief to kings, diplomats, and warlords. The mood is grave, reverential, and often slow, blending lyrical passages with a precise microtonal geometry. The optional ‘Kanada’ suffix denotes the raga’s likely origins in Carnatic music - some consider it to have been imported North by Mian Tansen in the 16th century.
It uses Asavari thaat [SRgmPdnS], with Re and Pa as the vadi and samvadi [king and queen notes]. Characteristic phrase resolutions include gmR and dnP, and the raga is often elaborated in mandra saptak [low octave]. Musicians often pause on Ga and Dha, ornamenting them with andolit [heavy oscillations]. It resembles the modern Carnatic Raga Natabhairavi, and the Western natural minor scale. Listen to more superb renditions of Darbari here:
-Ulhas Kashalkar (khayal) | [ Ссылка ]
-Irshad Khan (surbahar) | [ Ссылка ]
Recorded for Darbar in 2017, at Italy’s Ravenna Festival
-Nishat Khan (sitar)
-Emmanuel Masongsong (tanpura)
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