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Ustad Vilayat Khan, best known for his development of the Gayaki Ang, a technique where a sitar mimics a human voice, passed away today in 2004. He would also reinterpret numerous ragas in his career.
Died on 13th March 2004
Unassuming, a natural with his instrument - the sitar, and completely immersed in his performance, Ustad Vilayat Khan is probably one of the greatest legends of Sitar playing in modern India. Born in 1928 in East Bengal, his illustrious career and numerous contributions to the form and style of sitar music as a whole would be his legacy, as he passed away on the 13th of March, 2004.
His father, Enayat Khan, was a leading sitar player, and the tradition had continued from his grandfather - Imdad Khan. They practised in their family-style, nicknamed Imdadkhani Gharana by the relatives of the family - also called the Etawah Gharana in the present day. It claimed a heritage stretching all the way back to singing under the patronage of the Mughal Empire.
He performed his first concert in the All Bengal Music Conference, and then onto the Vikramaditya Sangeet Parishad in 1944, earning the title “Electrifying Sitar”. Khan would not only prefer playing without a tanpura, using his sitar to fill the silences but also develop the instrument to a finer degree of quality.
While being highly regarded to be an expert on the traditional ragas, he would reinterpret and even reinvent some - like the Enayatkhani Kanada, Sanjh Saravali, Kalavanti et cetera.
He would also go on to develop a unique family-style called ‘Gayaki Ang’ which would involve using the sitar to mimic the sound of a human voice - essentially making the sitar sing. This technique was much loved and used by various sitar players around the subcontinent.
In his 65 years of an illustrious career in music- touring nationally and internationally, contributing to the India Archive Music in the US, and conducting the score for Jalsaghar, The Guru and Kadambari and other movies, Khan would make a mark for himself
It can be summed up what he thought about himself in his own words - “I don’t want to be a president or any pop star, I want to be in my own shell. Yet I want to know that in my own shell, I am the pearl. Whoever wants to know me will open the shell.”
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