Music for the End of The Week: Ustad Amir Khan

Mojo Magazine, every month, asks various celebrities what their favorite Sunday morning record is.  In case they call the Washerman’s Dog, I’ll be ready.

“Thank you for asking,” I’ll say. “I don’t have one particular record that I love to listen to on Sundays. But one of my favorite Sunday styles is Hindustani khyal. I love the music’s calming characteristics which is exactly what the end of weekend demands.”

I would then refer them to a 1968 Indian LP called Khayal by Ustad Amir Khan, which I share with you tonight. 

There are many who feel that Amir Khan was a man ahead of his times, far more sophisticated in thought and expression than musicians before and after him. In his lifetime he became an icon for purists, and the large number of vocalists who have tried to follow his vocalism, is testimony to his genius. In the 30 odd years since his death, his music continues to command a large following among khayaliyas.

Ustad Amir Khan`s serene, tranquil and contemplative music rested on an incredibly fertile intellect. Born in a family of musicians in Indore in 1912, he was brought up in the rich musical atmosphere of Indore, where the Royal court had appreciable patronage for Hindustani classical vocal music. Amir Khan`s chief mentor was his father, Ustad Shahmir Khan. However, his formative years saw the young Amir Khan experiencing a steadily growing interest in the gayaki of Ustad Rajab Ali Khan, whose mehfils were frequent in town and also that of the other Kirana giant, Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan. He drew inspiration from Ustad Aman Ali Khan of Bhendibazar too and in course of time, through arduous riyaz, he developed a unique gayaki bearing his own exclusive stamp. The sum-total of influences and impressions filtered through his highly sensitized being, and in perfect accord with the natural quality of his voice and his aesthetic individuality, gave birth to a style that was a rare combination of spirituality, technique, cerebration, serenity and emotion. All this he presented with an understated elegance, reverence, restrained passion and an utter lack of showmanship that both moved and awed listeners.


The dominant element in his music was the Merukhand system of Raga progression, inspired and influenced by Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan when he was around 25-30. Merukhand did not remain a mere technique but became a vehicle of expression for him.

Amir Khan`s singing struck a perfect balance between the easy paced and highly evocative vistars on one hand and very difficult and speedy taan-sargams on the other. He wrote and set to tune several khayals and composed a number of taranas. In the emotional content of his sargams, Amir Khan leaned heavily towards Abdul Karim Khan and shared with him a close relationship. In Khayal singing, Amir Khan drew voluminously from Aman Ali Khan`s sargams. His taranas were deeply influenced by the spirituality of Hazrat Amir Khusrau.

Ustad Amir Khan`s musical idiom and intention changed in the course of his life. Unlike other gharanedar musicians he was open to new ideas and re-invented his vocalism in the latter part of his musical career. The influence of the Kirana maestro Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan is predominant in his early recordings of Marwa, Malkauns, etc. In the later phase of his career, the expansion of the Raga almost always employed the lower octave phrases as complimentary to the progression in the normal scale. This was a distinct departure from all other Ustads and Pandits of the other gharanas including Kirana.

Amir Khan was known as the emperor of Khayal and never sang Thumri in his concerts. But his rendition of Khamaj Thumri in the famous film `Khsudita Pashaan` mesmerized everyone at the intensity of emotion he could create in this genre also.


He was awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award by the President of India. His disciples included the likes of Pandit Amarnath, Prodyumna Mukherjee, Kankana Banerjee, Shrikant Bakre, Shankar Mazumdar etc. and many more vocalists all over the country who were deeply influenced by his style and were virtually blind followers of his gayaki.

His sudden death in 1974 in a car accident created a permanent void in the world of Hindustani music. (http://www.itcsra.org/tribute.asp?id=6)

         Track Listing:

         01 Kahan Jaage Raat_Jogiya Ghar Aaye (Raga Lalit)

02 Barsha Ritu Aaiz (Raga Megh)

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Music for Missing Someone: August Denhard and Munir Nurettin Beken

Oud/Lute

About the most lovely sound in the universe is the song of the lute.  Tonight’s  offering is a scrumptious and gentle concert of  lute, played by August Denhard, and oud (Arabian lute) played by Turkish master, Munir Nurettin Beken.

Denhard is from Seattle and the Director of the Early Music Guild (EMG) a collective of music lovers of which Frazier and Niles would be proud to be members.  In addition to his responsibilities of running EMG, Denhard, as this album demonstrates, is an outstanding lutenist himself.

Munir Nurettin Beken was born and raised in Istanbul. From the age of 11 he studied at the State Conservatory of Istanbul specializing in the Turkish classical repertoire, the oud (Turkish/Middle Eastern lute) and also Western classical music and composition. He graduated with honours and then taught at the Conservatory whilst studying for his bachelors degree. During this time he also began to perform on local television. He also represented his country at an international music festival in Poland and had many of his compositions performed by ensembles and orchestras. Following the completion of his BA studies, Beken helped to form the State Turkish Music Ensemble along with other respected Turkish classical musicians. He also began composing for local television, radio and ballet companies and has subsequently won numerous awards for his work on soundtracks. In 1989 he moved to the USA to study Ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland, where he subsequently became the Executive Director of the Centre for Turkish Music. He was invited by Rounder Records to compile Masters Of Turkish Music Volume Two, an anthology of recordings from the early twentieth century, and subsequently recorded his debut, The Art Of The Turkish Ud, for the same label. It featured solo ud performances of pieces from the Turkish classical repertoire, allowing Beken to display his mastery of the instrument and featuring a surprising variety of moods and tempos for a solo recording. (AMG)

This album is a series of duets and conversations between these two musical soulmates. Absolutely lovely music from the Renaissance and Medieval periods.  Great for Sunday mornings or afternoons when you are missing someone who’s company you love.

            Track Listing:

            01 Greensleeves

02 Piva

03 Estampie Fragment

04 Recercada I

05 Nota I

06 Estampie

07 Estampie IV

08 Lamento Da Tristano, Rotta

09 Spagna For Two Lutes

10 Aspire Refus Contre Doulce Priere

11 Notas II And III

12 La Manfredina Estampie

13 Douce Dame Jolie

14 Belle Fiore Dansa

15 Untitled

16 Un Fiore Gentile M'apparse

17 Calta Ala Spagnola

18 Saltarello

19 Buselik Saz Semaisi

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The Cure for That Languid Feeling: Ustad Nazakhat and Ustad Salamat Khan (Fresh Link)

It is about half nine at the moment. The mercury blasted up to 40C today and shall hover in that general area for several more days.  This evening we understand the meaning of languid.

At times such as these, when movement is slow and thoughts hesitant yet jumpy I find that the best cure for the soul is a raga turned up loud. Mental activity falls away. Pure sound envelopes you. You are transported to a place where mundane dilemmas can’t exist.

My favourite pair of Hindustani classical singers, Nazakhat and Salamat Khan, entertain a Radio Pakistan audience with the night raga Abhogi Kanhra.  Their voices suggest and hint at things for a while, demonstrating in nearly perfect metre and tone, how one should sing a raga. Then like anxious lovers impatient to meet, they rush home in glory.

Let them tell you more.

            Track Listing:

       01 Abhogi Kanhra

02 Alap

03 Kamod

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Merry Choral Christmas: John Tavener

John Tavener

Christmas music can be a challenge.  Either it is so well known (The Messiah), so bland (any collection of carols), so tired (Ella Fitzgerald/Perry Como/Frank Sinatra) or so crass (Carols for Cute California Babes).

As things will get busy from now until well after Christmas I wanted to post a nice collection of music for the season, and while this one is not exactly ‘Christmas music’ it is beautiful, contemplative, spiritually uplifting and soothing to the soul.  All qualities we need and can use more of, rather than less of. 

John Kenneth Tavener was born on 28 January 1944 in Wembley, London, England, and claims to be a direct descendant of the 16th-century composer John Taverner. He was educated at Highgate School (where a fellow pupil was John Rutter) and at the Royal Academy of Music, where his tutors included Sir Lennox Berkeley. He first came to prominence in 1968 with his dramatic cantata The Whale, based on the Old Testament story of Jonah. It was premièred at the London Sinfonietta's début concert and later recorded by Apple Records. The following year he began teaching at Trinity College of Music, London. Other works released by Apple included his Celtic Requiem. In 1977, he joined the Russian Orthodox Church. Orthodox theology and Orthodox liturgical traditions became a major influence on his work. He was particularly drawn to its mysticism, studying and setting to music the writings of Church Fathers and competing a setting of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, the principal eucharistic liturgy of the Orthodox Church.

One of Tavener's most popular and frequently performed works is his short unaccompanied four-part choral setting of William Blake's The Lamb, written for his nephew Simon on his third birthday one afternoon in 1982. This simple, homophonic piece is usually performed as a Christmas carol. More important, however, were his explorations of Russian and Greek culture, as shown in "Akhmatova Requiem" and "Sixteen Haiku of Seferis". Later prominent works include The Akathist of Thanksgiving (1987, written in celebration of the millennium of the Russian Orthodox Church); The Protecting Veil (first performed by cellist Steven Isserlis and the London Symphony Orchestra at the 1989 Proms); and Song for Athene (1993, performed at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997). Following Diana's death he also composed and dedicated to her memory the piece Eternity's Sunrise, based on poetry by William Blake.

It has been reported, particularly in the British press, that Tavener left Orthodox Christianity to explore a number of other different religious traditions, including Hinduism and Islam, and became a follower of the mystic philosopher Frithjof Schuon. While he has in recent years incorporated elements of non-Western music into his compositions, Tavener remains an Orthodox Christian, at least in form.

In 2003 he composed the exceptionally large work The Veil of the Temple (which was premièred at the Temple Church, Fleet Street, London), based on texts from a number of religions. It is set for four choirs, several orchestras and soloists and lasts at least seven hours. The 2004 première of his piece Prayer of the Heart written for and performed by Björk, was featured on CD and incorporated as the soundtrack to Jake Lever's installation Centre + Circumference (2008, Wallspace, All Hallows on the Wall, City of London).

In the second television series of Sacred Music, broadcast in the UK on BBC Four on Friday 2 April 2010, Tavener described himself as "essentially Orthodox".

While Tavener's earlier music was influenced by Igor Stravinsky and, to a lesser extent, Olivier Messiaen, often invoking the sound world of Stravinsky's Requiem Canticles and A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer and the ecstatic quality found in various works by Messiaen, his later music became more sparse, using wide registral space and was usually diatonically tonal. Some commentators see a similarity with the works of Arvo Pärt, from their common religious tradition to the technical details of phrase lengths, diatonicism and colouristic percussion effects.

Tavener's more recent music has moved away from the transparent simplicity of the 1980s towards a much more harmonically saturated style, in parallel with his pan-religious interests. Such works as Atma Mass (2003) and Requiem (2008) show this particularly well.

Tavener has suffered from considerable problems with his health. He had a stroke in his thirties, heart surgery and a tumour removed in his forties,[6] and suffered two successive heart attacks which have left him very frail.[7] He has Marfan syndrome.[8][9] His wife, Maryanna, broadcast a charity appeal on BBC Radio 4 in October 2008 on behalf of the Marfan Trust. (Wikipedia)

This is I suppose a sort of  'Best of' collection and it does include one short Christmas specific song, so it gets the gong! 

Gracious and generous music to enjoy in one of those gaps of quiet between the hectic mayhem of the next few days.

                        Track Listing:

                        01 Song for Athene

02 Today the Virgin

03 The Tyger

04 The Lamb

05 The Dormition of the Mother God

06 The Protecting Veil

07 A Hymn to the Mother of God

08 What God Is We Do Not Know

09 Funeral Ikos

10 Thernos

11 God is With Us

12 A Christmas Round

13 Elizabeth Full of Grace

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