Search - Ustad Imrat Khan :: Ajmer

Not Among Imrat's Best

02/10/2001

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is comprised of surbahar alap in the prestigeous Alhiya Bilawal, and sitar gat (with tabla accompaniment by Imrat's son, of all people) in "Imratkauns", a "raga" from fantasy land. I have never liked sitar gat, especially not Imdadkhani style (Imrat's family style), so it will suffice to say that I always turn Imrat's records off the moment he picks up the sitar and his son starts rattling away. But I have always loved Imrat's style of alap on surbahar, where his blistering, literally unbeliavable technique (which does not manifest itself in speedy playing, but micrometer precision of intonation, meend and gamaka!) seems to bend and shake your whole world. Unfortunately, his playing feels quite unimaginative on this album, and in spite of the fact that the disc is toted as an audiophile recording, the surbahar timbre becomes thin and metallic, lacking the warm body that it has in real life and in most other recordings. Fans of Imrat will of course need this disc anyway, for it is not wholly without merit, but for the newcomer some disc in the Maestro's Choice or India Archive Music series will serve as a much better introduction to the sonic world of Imrat's surbahar. My low 2-star rating is a combination of the brevity of surbahar alap (26 minutes - other discs may have 45!) and its relatively disappointing quality."