The seventh part of the series on raag Yaman features renditions of this raag sung by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (1901-1968), celebrated vocalist of the Patiala gharana. The first track is a recording from a live concert and contains two khayals and a tarana.
The concert starts with a vilambit or slow khayal set to Ektaal, a cycle of 12 matras or time units. The magnificence of Khan’s broad voice captivates the listener as he employs diverse techniques of ornamentation to sap out the essence of Yaman. Long and smooth meends, or glides, cover the rhythmic canvas as he, along with son Munawar Ali Khan – (1930-1989) providing vocal support – explore the multi-dimensional raag. Then, sometime around 11.25” or thereabouts, he breaks into a quicksilver taan that has a cascading effect after the sweeping meends. Moving into the upper reaches of the octave and beyond, Khan displays how aesthetics can be retained while being virtuosic to the fullest.
The performance continues with the father-son duo trading varieties of taans or swift melodic passages sung in aakaar using the vowel "aa" and in sargam or solfège patterns. From gamaks that have rapid oscillations on each note to sapaat or fast sequential ascent or descent through the notes of the scale, Khan demonstrates a rich repertory of taans. At times, he even enunciates sargam patterns as if they were words in a song-text.
The next composition is a madhya laya, or medium tempo khayal, set to the 16-matra Teentaal. Here, the focus is on taans and not on a detailed exploration of the composition. This is followed by a tarana in drut or fast Ektaal.
The second track has two compositions in Yaman, the first in madhya laya Teentaal, and the second, a tarana in drut laya Teentaal. Listeners will notice that the design of the tarana is unconventional, in that, the second line of the composition and the antara or the section that explores the upper octave are composed in half the original speed of the taal cycle.
