When it comes to Sitar music the name of Ustad Vilayat Khan comes to my mind first. He has contributed and expanded its horizons greatly. Gayaki (vocal) style of sitar playing was started by his father Ustad Inayat Khan, but Ustad Vilayat Khan and his brother Ustad Imrat Khan have taken it to new heights and irreversibly influenced all of their, and subsequent generation of sitarists. Vilayat Khan's recordings (since his early teens) have become hits for about 3-4 generations now. These are serious and major musicians who have contributed greatly on sitar and surbahar with little or no commercial viewpoints. But have won the hearts of musicians (including vocalists) and listeners alike. There is no dispute on the immense contributions of this Imdad Khani gharana to Indian Classical Music for many generations.
By the age of 4 he was playing sitar and when he was 8 gave his first public performance. Since thn he has not luked behind. Vilayat Khan is called "Aftaab-e-Sitar", the radiant star of the sitar, a title conferred on him by the late President of India, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.
Ustad Vilayat Khan represented both tradition and maverick innovation in his music. he was celebrated for not just developing the sitar style called gayaki ang, or vocal style, he retuned the drone strings of the sitar and invented a technique of bending a note after it was plucked, thus tracing a sonic after-image. his style became widely influential across Indian music. I had heard Ustadji playing once at Dover Lane Open, Kolkata in 1998. It is still a high point of my life. He had a touch like no other. The instrument laughed, cried and sang in his hands. A master he truly was, in evry sense, an artist without peer in his realm.
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