“Gharana is a beautiful thing as long as you enjoy the beauty implicit in the style and not use it as a pillow or a couch, constantly using it for self-aggrandisement,” says Ustad Shujaat Khan, son of Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan, torchbearer of the Imdadkhani Gharana. He believes that none should be coerced to accept the dictates of a generation. Tradition also permits to build on the existing edifice.
“The good thing is that there are four generations of commercial recordings available of our gharana on 78 rpm which would speak volumes of the great tradition and the unbroken thread of continuity. There are the recordings of my great grand father Ustad Imdad Khan, his son Inayat Khan and grandson Vilayat Khan.”
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The Imdadkhani tradition traces its ancestry to the renowned Hassu and Haddu Khan from whom Sahebdadkhan, a sarangi player learnt khayal. He was from Etawah and sometimes this gharana is also referred to as the Etawah Gharana. His son Imdad was a sitar player in the Jaipur and Indore courts and came to be known for his innovative style on sitar and surbahaar which led to the gharana being named after him.
Khayal on the sitar
His two sons Wahid and Inayat followed in his footsteps. Inayat Khan developed the technique of playing khayal on the sitar, thus pioneering the gayaki ang on the sitar, with the emphasis on open alap. While playing the alap, surbahaar was used by this gharana. The surbahaar is an improved version of the rudra veena.
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Inayat Khan’s son is sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan, who was also trained in khayal by his maternal grandfather and uncle. This vocal style refelcted in the playing of many other instruments like the sarod . This is one of the greatest contributions of this gharana to Hindustani music.
Vilayat Khan Sahib changed the brass strings of the sitar to steel and thus did away with the lower-pitched strings. This school is known for its long sweeping meends on the baj string and also for its profusion of chikari strumming called chhed. Jhala, which is played at the conclusion of alap and again at the end of the gat using different finger strokes and rhythm. The gamaks are delicate and come close to the ones from the voice. The taans of this gharana are like those of vocal music like chut taans with sudden leaps from one octave to the other.
In 1995, Shujaat Khan came up with a folk and sufi album ‘Lajo lajo’, which had him singing alongwith playing the sitar. This unique approach not only gave strength to a family tradition but also ascribed to individual expression and creativity. Can a lineage flower into something unique or can it weigh heavily?
Shujaat’s son Azaan is curating music for Oddbird Theatre and composing background scores for many new ventures. An alumnus of the A.R. Rahman’s K.M. Music Conservatory, he is both innovative and appreciative of his family tradition and is set to explore deeper into the different facets of music.
Shujaat Khan recounted how his father travelled extensively, but when at home, their days were full of music and laughter. “He would stay up all night for practice when they lived in Shimla and to beat the cold would make for him a cup of Horlicks.” At moments when Shujaat would be heart-broken over his progress, he would give him courage to move ahead with confidence. “Once when Ustad Amir Khan and the great veena exponent, Ustad Dabu Khan came to meet my father, Amir Khan Sahib walked into my room and began giving me vocal lessons. Soon my father walked in with two tanpuras and it turned into a mini mehfil.”
The gharana boasts of names such as Pt. Arvind Parekh, Ustad Vilayat Khan’s senior most disciple, Bimalendu Mukherjee, whose father Budhaditya Mukherjee was Ustad Inayat Khan’s disciple, and Shahid Parvez, the grandson of Ustad Wahid Khan.