HYDERABAD: A pleasant Sunday morning at the Secunderabad Club Sailing Annexe saw the auditorium filled with music lovers on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima. Surmandal, a highly esteemed cultural body of Hyderabad was to pay homage to the late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, with two recitals in Hindustani classical music: Irfan Ahmed Khan of Hyderabad (Sitar) and Mohammed Amaan of Jaipur (Vocal). Both the musicians are young, full of promise and hail from musical families.
Irfan Khan of Etawah gharana chose a melodious morning raga, Charukeshi for his recital. Pleasingly delineating with a raag alaap followed by jod alaap, he later presented two compositions, one set to rupak taal and the other to teen taal. In his playing, one could perceive the magnificent gayaki ang created by Ustad Vilayat Khan Sahab.
That came about because his father and guru Ustad Bashir Ahmed Khan was a disciple of the late Vilayat Khan. Irfan is now learning from Ustad Shahid Parvez, who is again an inheritor of the rich bani. Concentrating more on melody than on speed and gimmicks, Irfan impressed the audience, sustaining on each note to draw the best melody out of it. Pavan Kumar further enriched the performance with his excellent accompaniment on the tabla.
Mohammed Amaan of Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa fame is a well-known figure in the Gen Y category now, thanks to the media. He is the disciple of his grand father Ustad Ameer Mohd Khan of Jaipur. Amaan seemed to have picked up the best of both Gwalior and Patiala gharanas that he was trained in. One can imagine the kind of taleem that he has received right from his childhood, to be able to sing the way he does.
The exceptional range in his voice could be the result of sheer hard work that he must have put in over all these years. His voice is like a machine and his taans are mind blowing. With a very experienced artists like Ajay Joglekar on the harmonium, and Harjit Singh on the tabla, the concert was an aural feast. After too brief of an alaap in Raag Miyan ki thodi, Amaan quickly rendered two compositions in teen taal: “Ab more nayya paar karlo......” was followed by his grandfather’s lovely composition in Jaunpuri – “Mein jaanu…’, wherein he would repeat and explain the lyrics in the typical mehfil style. This was followed by a short taraana.
Suggested by Mohan, Amaan then taken up Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan’s “Yaad piya ki aayee...”, which seemed the most apt tribute to the legendary musician. But one felt that it sounded a bit joyous and the anguish that is supposed to come through in this particular bandish was missing. His fabulous rendering of Kesariyaa baalam in Maand, “Ab to aao sajna in Pahadi, and a popular composition in Sindhu Bhairavi had the audience asking for more. But what stole everyone’s heart was his tehzeeb.