JOIN USThe Bangalore International Centre presented ‘Towards an Appreciation of Hindustani Khayal Music’, a lecture demonstration by K S Vaishali in the City recently.
The lecture demonstration covered all aspects of Hindustani Khayal music. Vaishali spoke extensively about Hindustani music which was well-appreciated by the audience. Giving a detailed description about Hindustani classical music, Vaishali delved into the various segments of Khayal singing.
She also highlighted some of the key points of Khayal singing which were alaaps and
taans.
She said the intensely improvisational nature of Hindustani Khayal music makes it one of the most complex forms of musical genre.
She took the audience through the history of Hindustani Khayal music. She said legend has it that Niyamat Khan was insulted on one occasion by a vocalist of Muhammad Shah Rangeela. The emperor sympathised with the vocalist and Niyamat Khan and Firoz Khan left the court and settled on the outskirts of Delhi.
Under the pen names — Sadarang and Adarang — they created lively compositions in beautiful and melodious ragas using fast and dynamic Taans. Thus was born the new vocal music style which came to be known as Khayal.
Vaishali began with the detailed recital of the 10 thaats and moved onto singing Khayals in different ragas. She also sang some morning ragas such as bhairavi bhairav and asavari was another raga which she sang.
This lecture demonstration was to sensitise the audience to the grammar and textuality of Hindustani Khayal music which is regarded as an experience par excellence. Uma K, who had come to watch the show, said that she enjoyed bhairavi and bhairav the most and learnt a lot about Khayal singing.
Another member of the audience, Ganesh Kaushal, said, “I like the initiative taken by the organisers to promote our culture and various aspects of it. I specifically enjoyed the dance and the music recitals and this one was not only enjoyable but informative as well.”