Selected Recording
Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) with Mahapurush Misra (tablā), The 80 Minute Rāga: Rāg Kānara Prakaar [Rāg DarbārīKānara]; ālāp, jor, and jhāla and gats in vilambit and madhya lay Tīntāl, drut lay Ektāl, and drut lay Tīntāl (Connoisseur Society CS 2012).
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009) was one of the best-known musicians in India and traced his family history to none other than the illustrious Mian Tansen. He gave his first public performance at the age of fourteen and was a court musician to the Maharaja of Jodhpur. His father, Padmabibhusahan Ustad Allaudin Khan, pioneered the use of the sarod and, in his turn, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan has made the sarod a fixture of the north Indian musical scene. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan composed a number of new ragas as well as a maintaining a career as a performer of traditional repertoire. In 1968, he founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Raphael, California.
Sarod
Mahapurush Misra (1932-1987) was born in Bihar and was one of the most active drummers of the 1960s and an exponent of the Benares style of tablā drumming. Very few recordings of him exist, but he could be a spectacular player.
 
PERFORMANCE STRUCTURE
Time Event
  alap
00:00 alap of the alap
  beginning
  p <> r
00:50 mohara
  s <> r
02:40 mohara
  gb <> p
05:00 mohara
  s <> s
06:15 mohara
  gb <> nb-s-r-gb-m-p ... s
09:40 mohara
 
09:45 jor
  m <> r
10:10 mohara
  s <> r
11:10 mohara
  s <> r
11:41 mohara
  s <> gb-m-p
12:22 mohara
  r <> nb-s-r
13:30 mohara
  s-r-gb <> r-p
15:09 mohara
  s <> gb-p-db-nb-s
16:54 mohara
  db <> s
17:34 mohara
  nb <> gb
18:54 mohara
  s-r-m-p <> r
20:17 mohara
  gb <> gb
20:38 mohara
  <> nb-gb
 
21:00 jhala (begins without mohara)
  s <> gb
22:03 [recording break]
  s <> r-nb-p-db-nb
24:21 mohara
  s <> s-r-gb-m
25:58 mohara
  s-r-gb-m <> gb-m ... m
27:36 mohara
  gb <> m
28:11 mohara
  p <> p
28:41 mohara
  s <> r-gb-m ... m
31:53 mohara
38:50 ends
 
00:00 Gat cycles
  Masitkhani gat in vilambit lay tintal
  tabla tihais culminating on the sam
  tihais coincide with the mukhra.
00:40 sarod solo
01:06 mukhra & tabla solo 1
01:25 sarod solo
02:07 mukhra & tabla solo 1
02:28 sarod solo
03:40 mukhra & tabla solo 2
  [tempo increase]
04:13 sarod solo 6
05:49 mukhra & tabla solo 2
06:21 sarod solo 8
08:04 mukhra & tabla solo retuning 1
08:30 sarod solo 7
09:48 mukhra & tabla solo 2
10:10 sarod solo 15
13:05 sarod tihai & tabla solo 2
13:35 sarod solo 6
14:40 mukhra & tabla solo 1
14:55 sarod solo 16
18:02 mukhra & tabla solo 3
18:43 sarod solo [recording break] 12
21:00 mukhra & tabla solo 3
  [tempo increase to madhya lay tintal] 15
23:30 mukhra & tabla solo 2
 
23:50 drut lay ektal
 
31:49 sawal-jawab [4 measure phrases]
 
36:22 jhala in drut lay Tintal
 
37:40 sath sangat (brief)
 
38:50 final tihai
38:56 end
 
Notes on Performance
ālāp: The opening ālāp is of a relatively brief type called a svarvistār ālāp in which the various ranges of the rāg are explored in a rather quick fashion.
gat: The gat is a modified Masitkhāni gat (see the previous listening example for information on gat).
The transition from vilambit-lay tintal to madhya-lay tintal is gradual. The entire performance is a series graduated tempo increases.
A momentary break separates the madhya-lay tintāl section from the drut-lay ektāl section. The drummer stops and Ali Akbar Khan begins a new gat on the sarod.
The transition from drut-lay ektāl to atidrut-lay tīntāl is made through a section called sawāl-jawāb ("question-answer") in which the sarod plays a musical phrase and the tablā imitates. The phrases get gradually shorter and shorter. When the exchanges end, the performers play a very fast version of tīntāl and conclude with long unison tihā'ī (cakradār paran or tihā'ī).
 
Rag Darbari Kanada
This rag is said to have been composed by Mian Tansen for performances for the Moghul emperor, Akbar. It is described as a late evening rag (9 P.M. to Midnight). Vadi: risabh. Samvadi: pañcam. Bhatkhande claims that it's best ranges are the mandra and madhya sthans. Furthermore, komal gandhar is commonly treated with an andolan (slow tremolo) and in descent.
 
Rag Darbara Kanada (Masitkhani gat)
Alap and Gat Outline Dhrupad
  23-Mar-2017