Sitar Players from the Indore Gharana

As he was talking to Farhan Khan, a young man in his twenties, Ali Ayub constantly had one eye on the door. He was acutely aware of the prolonged and awkward silences.  Finally, an immaculately dressed gentleman, Ustad Rais Khan, walked in with the traditional adab. He seemed to be from a bygone era, where ceremony and rituals were a part of day-to-day life. “He certainly belongs to the court of Indore”, Ali Ayub thought.

The conversation with Ustad Rais Khan was formal, almost verging on cold and awkward. The interview might have ended quickly, but for the fortuitous accident that the dialogue drifted into electric sitars.  Ali Ayub was surprised to find that the great maestro was not only open to experimentation, but he himself was participating in quality-testing an electric sitar. “But the neck is getting to be too thick”, opined the master.  “Just like a surbahar”, chimed in Ali Ayub. Suddenly Ustad Rais Khan’s eyes lit with approval of this young upstart. “Bilqees, come, meet this young man from NCA. He knows something about music”, he called out to his wife as the guarded formality gave way to a warm and frank interview with one of the greatest sitar players of the subcontinent.

Diametrically opposite to the Jaipur Senia gharana we last visited, the Indore gharana is the most recent and smallest sitar gharana, only founded in the twentieth century. Unlike other gharanas with complex family trees and histories, this one centers around one man who defined the gharana in Pakistan: the famed Ustad Rais Khan (1939-2017).

Rais Khan once controversially claimed himself to be from the Mewati gharana, a statement which’s veracity has been fiercely disputed. Even though he can claim descendance from four different gharanas, he had largely identified with the Indore gharana in the past.  However, in the end, most scholars decided to include him in the Indore gharana, as his father and teacher, Muhammad Khan, was from that gharana. Interestingly, his maternal uncle was the celebrated Ustad Vilayat Khan from the Imdadkhani gharana, who greatly influenced his playing style. Later on in his life, Ustad Rais Khan’s relations with his uncle and his uncle’s side of the family appear to have soured, with some saying that Rais Khan had claimed that his father, Muhammad Khan, invented Ustad Vilayat Khan’s famous gayaki ang style, a controversial issue which you can read about here and here.

He received the Presidential Pride of Performance in 2005, and, despite the controversy which naturally resulted due to his rather prickly personality, is widely regarded as among the topnotch sitar players of this era, and a true representative of his gharana. His son, Farhan Khan, has chosen to follow in his footsteps.  

Playing Style

Ustad Rais Khan would brilliantly render khayal vocal bandishes (compositions in a certain raag) on the sitar with great detail and delicacy. Like his maternal uncle Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan, he also rendered vocal compositions on the sitar, often singing a composition before playing it. As a result, the playing style of this gharana is captured by the Vilayatkhani baj, just like the Imdadkhani baj of the eponymous gharana.  However, Ustad Rais Khan controversially contested that his father, and not his uncle, invented this baj.

Even when playing in other bajs, like the Masitkhani baj, players from this gharana tend to be more lyrical as compared to other sitarists, while Ustad Rais Khan also created a distinctive echo effect while playing through the controlled decrease in the intensity of the mizrab strokes.

The Young Man Carrying on the Indore Tradition

The young man that Ali Ayub met was Farhan Khan the son of Ustad Rais Khan. His father’s meticulous training and his own hard work have transformed Farhan Khan into one of the most promising sitar players from Pakistan. He lives in Karachi and performs in concerts all over the world.

Just as a little bonus, below is a short example of Ustad Rais Khan’s playing style. Enjoy!