Like Father, Like Son

Promoting Indian classical music, Hidayat Khan upholds his family’s legacy.

By: Santosh Prakash

HIDAYAT HUSSAIN KHAN

   Adorned with elegant silver trimmings and decorative designs chiseled through its rich teak wood, the physical beauty of the sitar — an instrument once cherished in the royal courts of Indian kings and emperors — has the ability to rouse wonder even before a sitarist begins strumming.
   While its strangely fascinating, gourd-like body is a striking sight in itself, it is the sitar’s mesmerizingly unique melodies and distinct tonalities that Western fans have come to love and embrace since the instrument first appeared in America in the 1960s.
   In March, fans of Indian classical music throughout the world were shocked to hear that Ustad Vilayat Khan, one of the greatest sitar players of the modern era, had passed away at age 76. A frequent visitor to his second home in Princeton, where he often recorded music, Vilayat Khan is credited with revolutionizing the art of the sitar through his many stylistic and structural innovations.
   The world of Indian classical music may have lost its brightest star, but a powerful, new force is rising to fill the void that Vilayat Khan left behind — Hidayat Hussain Khan, his second son.
   A longtime Princeton resident, Mr. Khan teaches Indian classical music in Cranbury. As a child prodigy who gave his first concert at Lucknow, India, at age 9, Mr. Khan has received critical acclaim for his performances in England, Germany, Japan, Malaysia and Italy. He is the chief organizer of the Hindustani Classical Music Festival. To be held in Princeton Oct. 23-24, it will include internationally acclaimed artists, as well as Mr. Khan’s students.
   Although Mr. Khan is happy with the success he has gained in concert tours, and for the music he has composed for movies, advertisements and TV programs, he always remains grateful to his legacy, which he tries to uphold.
   "It’s come to a point now that I’m just always extremely thankful for the background that I come from," he says. "If feel that If I’m going to be playing Indian classical music, I should try to play the sitar on a very authentic level, and try to keep what the great masters like my father gave to our world of music. I feel it’s my duty to live up to that standard."
   In Mr. Khan’s case, however, that high musical standard has been upheld for a long time. "Its very fortunate for me to say we are the only family in the world of music who has four generations of recorded music available," says Mr. Khan, whose grandfather and great-grandfather were both prominent, pioneering court sitarists long ago in British India.
   Mr. Khan, however, maintains that upholding the sitar legacy of his family has never been a huge pressure. Although he was first trained as a vocalist in the classical style, Mr. Khan admits that while he initially fell in love with singing, playing the sitar come naturally to him.
   Mr. Khan considers the sitar to be of prime importance, and feels drawn to its special and alluring qualities, but maintains that his vocal training has allowed him to truly excel in the "gayki ang," or vocal style, of sitar playing — an innovation introduced to the Indian classical music world by his father. While the style introduced by Vilayat Khan was a revolutionary innovation containing philosophical and stylistic nuances, its basic goal was to create variations in the melody of the sitar that mimic the tonal qualities of the human voice.
   Playing the sitar under this style, says Mr. Khan, creates a sound that is truly distinct. "The most fascinating aspect of sitar, which I haven’t found in any other instrument, is the amazing amount of variation in tone… with all these amazing tonal variations, it never becomes dull or repetitive. It’s beautiful. There is always a barrage of new tones coming out, which is characteristic of the human voice," he says.
   Because of his extensive vocal training, Mr. Khan says he has a special ease in creating distinct, voice-like tones when he follows the format of the gayki ang, which involves interpreting the melodies as a vocalist would, and then putting his interpreted thoughts back into the context of the sitar.
   Sound complicated? You bet it is. Even Mr. Khan agrees the entire system of Indian classical music in which the sitar lies grounded in can be complicated to an outsider. Additionally, the extremely long duration of classical songs, and the prevalence of free-form improvisation, may sometimes be too demanding for listeners.
   However, Mr. Khan explains that certain conventions can help chart the hazy musical territory for both musician and listener.
   "Within the abstractness (of classical music) we are following certain carefully constructed compositions which are very concrete," says Mr. Khan.
   "Some things are definite. Now, the definite is the ‘taal,’ which are cycles of rhythm and beat. All the musicians on stage have an understanding with the (percussionist) who maintains the taal. Then we have the ‘raag,’ which is a construction of notes based on an ascending and descending order. The raag has a specific structure, and certain rules that tell you how you should go up and down those ascending and descending scales. Then we have the song, which we fit around the focal points of the raag."
   Mr. Khan says that while a classical musician must always stay within the structure of a taal and a raag, it is within the loose structure of the song that great musicians often display their improvisational skill.
   "A great musician would show us that he just has a million different ways of roaming in and about the song, while still staying within the structure of the raag format," explains Mr. Khan.
   "Talented musicians realize that there is a basic outer structure that you have to follow — but within that there is a lot of room for improvisation, and freedom in movement," he continues.
   It is this freedom of movement and fluctuation of sound that Western audiences find most appealing in instruments such as the sitar, what has essentially grown to become a trademark of India and its classical music. With its even mixture of deeply resonant mournful sounds and rapidly fluctuating joyful tones that culminate in sweet and sorrowful crescendos, the incredible range of tonalities produced by a sitar can be matched by no other instrument.
   Currently an 18-stringed instrument made of "playing" and "sympathetic" strings plucked with both hands by a sitarist seated on the floor, the modern version of the sitar — which differs from the original medieval in form and technique — was developed by Vilayat Khan to match the principles of his vocal style. The changes brought by him revolutionized the world of Indian classical music.
   "Before he introduced his changes the notes were very short and aggressive and basically the sounds were straightforward," says Mr. Khan. "But after his changes, the sound of the sitar became very vocal in nature. It had these new, rich, deep tones. It had a lot of deep and long movements that kept the sound alive all the way until the end of the note, like a voice would carry on right through the end of the breath."
   For Mr. Khan, however, neither the intricate complexity nor the vast lengths of the raags played on the sitar pose a real challenge on-stage or in the studio.
   "(The raags) helps you create and build melodies that capture every type of human emotion and experience," he says. "For somebody who has been brought up and trained in this style, the duration of the raags is no problem. The longevity of the music is what adds to the charm. After playing for a very long time, though, it does become hard to stay creative."
   But after playing difficult 30-minute, intensely classical raags such as the ‘Marwa Gat’ in a 16-beat cycle, and the raag ‘Jog Kauns’ in concert tours like his last performance with his father in Bombay, India, earlier this year, Mr. Khan has currently been venturing into new endeavors in the non-classical mainstream. He has recently been composing music for TV shows such as those aired on the Discovery Channel, commercials, as well as movies. However, teaching Indian classical music and spreading its charm has now become one of Mr. Khan’s primary activities.
   Mr. Khan hopes that the weekend of Indian classical music featuring internationally acclaimed singer Purvi Parik and santoor player Satish Vyas will continue to stoke interest among students, fans and those not yet accustomed to Indian music. Mr. Khan, who intends to continue organizing many more classical music festivals in the future, feels that it is his duty to promote the art as well as uphold his Indian heritage while living in America.
Hindustani Classical Music Festival, featuring vocalist Purvi Praikh and santoorist Satish Vyason Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. and students of Hidayat Khan Oct. 24 at 2 p.m., will be held at the Princeton Unitarian Church, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton. Tickets cost $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Tickets can be purchased at Masala Grill, 15 Chambers St., Princeton. For information, call (732) 329-1194. On the Web: www.timeless-music.org