North Indian Classical Music: Shujaat Khan, sitar; Abhiman Kaushal, tabla

Sitarist Shujaat Khan (right) and Abhiman Kaushal perform north Indian classical music at the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, on April 30, 2010. Shujaat Khan is one of the leading exponents of Indian music of his generation. On the occasion of India’s fiftieth anniversary of independence in 1997, he was a featured artist in celebrations at Carnegie Hall in New York, Paramount Theater in Seattle, Meyers Symphony Theater in Dallas, and Assembly Hall in Geneva.

Shujaat Khan belongs to the lineage known as the Imdad Khan gharana. He is the seventh virtuoso in an unbroken line from a family that has produced many musical masters. His style, known as the gayaki ang, is imitative of the human voice. These photos show him in performance at the Freer Gallery of Art on April 30, 2010.

For the first two pieces in this concert, Shujaat Khan plays a different raga (melodic mode) of north Indian music. Traditionally, each raga is associated with a particular emotion, time of day, and season of the year. For centuries, the moods of these ragas have been rendered in Indian paintings as well as music. The sixteenth-century painting above portrays a serious and contemplative north Indian raga (Kedar) meant to be played on a winter night and typically represented as an ascetic in meditation. Here, a yogic practitioner holding a vina (an Indian musical instrument) is visited by a Muslim dervish.

Detail: Kedar Ragini; by Shaykh Hatim; Chunar, Uttar Pradesh, India; Hara dynasty, reign of Rao Raja Bhoj Singh, 1591; opaque watercolor and gold on paper; purchase, F1985.2

Here are two renditions of a raga meant to be heard on a late afternoon in winter and that conveys a mood of love. The seventeenth-century painting at left portrays the raga (Shri) as a prince on his throne listening to music. The more recent image at right depicts the same raga as the god Krishna listening to music with his consort Radha.

Left: Detail, Shri Raga from the Chawand Ragamala; by Nasiruddin; Chawand, Rajasthan, India; Sisodia dynasty, reign of Maharana Amar Singh, dated 1605; opaque watercolor on paper; purchase, F1991.1

Right: Detail, A musical mode (Sri Raga): Krisna and Radha on a terrace; Rajasthan, India; 19th century; opaque watercolor and gold on paper; gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1907.248

Sitarist Shujaat Khan (right) and Abhiman Kaushal perform My Eyes, My Heart as the concluding piece in their concert at the Freer Gallery of Art on April 30, 2010. The song originally appeared on the CD As Night Falls Along the Silk Road by the Indo-Persian trio Ghazal, featuring Shujaat Khan on sitar, Kayhan Kalhor on kamenche, and Swapan Chaudhuri on tabla. The trio’s third recording, Rain, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004. In 2009, Amazon.com named Ghazal’s first recording, Lost Songs of the Silk Road, one of the top 100 world music albums.