ILYAS KHAN | Raga Kafi (1956)

An album with Ilyas Khan Sahebs music can be found here: matyasitar.ban...
Ustad Ilyas Khan - Sitar
Pandit Shamta Prasad - Tabla
Recorded in 1956 at the Constitution Club/Delhi
After Raga Chayanat this is the second piece of the Ustads earliest surviving concert recording that allows a fascinating glimpse into his prime years. 98% of his recorded material in the archives of his nephew and shagird Ustad Irfan Khan Sahib stems from the final decade of Ilyas Khansahebs life. This Kafi Thumri has been released earlier in CD format by Sangeet Natak Akademi but with a wrong pitch & speed. This is a corrected version with a pitch around the Ustads usual C-sharp.
Sitarya Ustad Ilyas Khan (1924-1989) -second son of the legendary sarod maestro Ustad Sakhawat Hussain Khan (1875-1955) of Lucknow-Shajahanpur Gharana was a phenomenal musician with a huge repertoire of Ragas and old compositions. Most of his life he was teaching music at the Bhatkhande College in Lucknow and lived a simple life devoted to music.
"Ilyas Khan was roughly a contemporary of Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan and Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan. Yet few listeners today have heard of him, let alone his recorded music. He added to his gharana’s knowledge bank by studying, in addition to his family’s repertoire, more gats and dhrupads from the sitar gharana of Kalpi, near Lucknow. His non-family teachers had been the ustads Abdul Ghani Khan, a dhrupad singer, and Yusuf Ali Khan, a sitarist and sitar maker (also the original designer of the kharaj-pancham sitar that is today synonymous with Ravi Shankar)." (quoted from Arnab Chakrabarty´s article in scroll.in)
This Kafi is a follow up to Ilyas Khans teacher Yusuf Ali Khans Kafi which we published two weeks ago: • YUSUF ALI KHAN | Raga ...
More clips of the Ustad from our archive:
• ILYAS KHAN
The picture was collected from "The Indian Listener" by Kiran aka Pokri Poki

[@dr.ashokkumar3628]

So fortune to listen such a legendry artist, treasure and great guru of my father Marvelous

[@lucknow-shahjahanpur-ghara7790]

Thanks for your comment. What was your fathers name and when did he learn from Ustad Ilyas Khan Saheb? If you can share any pictures or recordings please drop me a line: [e-mail]

[@irfanmuhammadkhan4737]

What wonderful music!

[@sarode]

Wonderful Kafi. One of my favourite gats. Thanks for cleaning up the hiss and tape noise on this recording!

[@saphazra]

Really...the beauty...

[@sambmat290]

There is much to admire in the clear and even articulation of bols coupled with the natural lilt in a raga like Kafi. And of course sangat by Pt. Samta Prasad shows why he was one of the most sought accompanists of the time. Thank you for this gem.

[@lucknow-shahjahanpur-ghara7790]

Well said! You are very welcome

[@mohammedalinaik2186]

My God .... what mastery over music and more particularly over the instrument. Waaah Ustadji waaaah.

[@ranadevraychoudhury]

Really beautiful....the tonal quality, the melody, the emotion, the control over the instrument.....all of it.....sublime

[@meerasinha1943]

Melodious............ 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@AmitKumar-sh8qt]

दुर्लभ 🙏

[@isbarve]

Beautiful...

[@aftabdatta]

This is outstanding. Beautiful Kafi

[@AnirbanBanerjeeTheSarodGharana]

Ahaa !!

[@PokriPoki]

Matyas - very good, thanks. a request. I saw documentation on Jadavpur Univ site stating Ut. Irfan bhai has donated a good num of Ilyas Khan/Umar Khan records to them. pl post a few good ones from those archives if you can

[@MatyasWolter]

Hi. I don't know about that but will talk it over with Ustadji.

[@Surbahar1984]

Shahenshah of Gat Tora baaaj