The book deals with the special features of the Imdadkhani Baj, the premier Sitar Gharana of today. It contains notations (in Indian system) of forty-seven compositions in different ragas by the old masters of the Gharana, and of a full-length Alapa in Raga Yaman, composed by Imdad Khan for Surbahar. All the compositions including the Alapa can be heard from the accompanying DVDs for direct understanding. The reader may also scan from the QR codes given in the book.
The author of this book, Shri Subhas Chanda, was born in 1931, and took up music at an early age. He was under the tutelage of late Shri Bimalakanta Roychaudhuri for twenty-six years, taking lessons in Sitar and Surbahar. He has worked as a music teacher at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata, and has been conducting the activities of the Imdadkhani School of Sitar, Kolkata, as Principal since 1980. Besides, he is a member of the Advisory Board of Ustad Nasir Moinuddin Dagar Dhrupad Sangeet Ashram.
I never contemplated to write this book. Dr Trina Purohit Roy, the seniormost disciple of my Guruji, insisted that I should put on record the basic features of the Imcladkhani Baj along with some compositions of the old masters of the Baj so that the compositions do not get lost in time. With this aim in view, I have tried to give a rough outline of the Imdadkhani Baj alongwith some compositions of the masters- a full length Alapa in Raga Yaman, nineteen Masidkhani and twenty-eight Razakhani Gats. At the end, in the appendix there is a genealogical table of the Gharand and two life-sketches of Imdad Khan and Inayet Khan. Also goes with the book a set of DVDs (with QR Codes), wherein all the compositions included in the book have been played by me accompanied on Tabla by Sri Pallab Kumar De.
I thank Sri Harshabardhan Banerjee, my pupil, who took the trouble of video recording my playing. My thanks also to Sri Sukanta Majumdar, sound artist, who edited the recordings. Dr Rani Roy of New Delhi was kind enough to go through the script. My sincere thanks to her. My grateful thanks to the authorities of the Sangeet Natak Akademi for their kind acceptance of the book for publication.
Ustad Imdad Khan was the most famous Sitar and Surbahar player of India in the early part of the last century. His father Ustad Sahabdad Hossain Khan was a vocalist and a Surbahar player. Ustad Imdad Khan developed a style of Sitar playing which was different from the style of his predecessors. He enchanted the whole of India by the vigour and melody of his playing-style. Today there is hardly any Sitar player in India who is not influenced by Ustad Imdad Khan's style of playing in some way or other. His illustrious sons Ustad Inayet Khan, Ustad Wahid Khan, grandsons Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Imrat Khan and the great grandsons have maintained and are maintaining the tradition, earning appreciation from the audience of the whole of India and abroad. There is no music family in India now, with such a long tradition of Sitar playing.
Sri Subhas Chanda, the author of this book is a disciple of late Pandit Bimalakanta Roychaudhuri, the famous musician and musicologist, who was one of the senior-most disciples of Ustad Inayet Khan. Sri Chanda has furnished in this book the notations of a full length Alap as used to be played by Ustad Inayet Khan on Surbahar in Raga Yaman, nineteen Masidkhani compositions and twenty-eight Razakhani compositions in different Ragas. In a DVD accompanying the book, the author has played all the compositions as mentioned above.
The contents of this precious book are indeed valuable. I wish the book is widely read.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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