Da Vinci Classics
Ankush N Nayak, Rafique Khan, Rajendra Nakod
Rafique Khan, sitar · Rajendra Nakod, tabla · Ankush N Nayak, tanpura
13.47€
Raga · 4 tracks
Rafique Khan, sitar; Rajendra Nakod, tabla; Ankush N Nayak, tanpura. Titles follow the original booklet; durations verified on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
Ankush N Nayak is an Indian classical sitar player from Mangalore. He began studying at nine with Ustad Rafique Khan of the Dharwad gharana, subsequently studying the Carnatic tala system with Trichy K. R. Kumar and receiving advanced training from Buddhadev Das Gupta at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata.
He won first prize in the All India Radio National Music Competition in 2009 and is an A-grade artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan. His concert work spans India and international appearances in the United States, Singapore, the Philippines and Japan, alongside collaborations in Indo-Western fusion. He also works in educational technology at the Expert Group of Institutions in Mangalore. On Raga, he accompanies Rafique Khan on tanpura.
Rafique Khan is an Indian musician and composer who plays the sitar. He belongs to the sixth generation of musicians of the Dharwad gharana. His father, the late Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, was a distinguished sitar player. His grandfather, Rahimat Khan, who was awarded the title Sitar Ratna, is credited with adding the bass octave to the sitar and developing the three-string instrument into the seven-string form commonly used today. Rafique Khan is the younger brother of Ustad Bale Khan and Chhote Rahimat Khan and the twin brother of Ustad Shafique Khan, also a sitar player.
Born in Dharwad, he began playing the sitar at nine. He studied with his father and his elder brothers Ustad Usman Khan and Ustad Bale Khan, and received training in gayaki ang from his uncle Ustad Dastagir Khan. He passed the music examinations of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai and graduated in philosophy from the University of Goa. At twenty-three he received the prestigious Sur Mani Award from Sur Singar Samsad in Mumbai. He is also an empanelled artist of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
His concert career has taken him throughout India and abroad, with appearances at music festivals in Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia and collaborations with musicians from around the world. All India Radio has recognised him as a top-grade artist and broadcast four of his recitals in its national programmes.
A distinctive feature of his playing is the preservation of the raga’s character while balancing gayaki ang, the vocal style, with tantakari ang, the instrumental style. His disciplined approach and devotion to music are reflected in his mastery of gamak taans, among the sitar’s most demanding techniques. His command of the fingerboard is exemplary. The music he produces is pure melody, and audiences are captivated by the movement of his nimble fingers with every note he plays.
Rajendra Nakod is an Indian tabla player from the Nakod family of Hindustani musicians in Karnataka. His father, Pandit Arjunsa Nakod, was a vocalist associated with the Kirana and Gwalior gharanas; his brothers include the musicians Raghunath, Balachandra and Vishwanath Nakod.
An A-grade tabla artist of All India Radio, he has performed at music conferences throughout India and works in both traditional classical performance and contemporary collaborations. He plays tabla alongside Rafique Khan and Ankush N Nayak on Raga.
Rafique Khan is an Indian musician and composer who plays the sitar. He belongs to the sixth generation of musicians of the Dharwad gharana. His father, the late Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, was a distinguished sitar player. His grandfather, Rahimat Khan, who was awarded the title Sitar Ratna, is credited with adding the bass octave to the sitar and developing the three-string instrument into the seven-string form commonly used today. Rafique Khan is the younger brother of Ustad Bale Khan and Chhote Rahimat Khan and the twin brother of Ustad Shafique Khan, also a sitar player.
Born in Dharwad, he began playing the sitar at nine. He studied with his father and his elder brothers Ustad Usman Khan and Ustad Bale Khan, and received training in gayaki ang from his uncle Ustad Dastagir Khan. He passed the music examinations of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Mumbai and graduated in philosophy from the University of Goa. At twenty-three he received the prestigious Sur Mani Award from Sur Singar Samsad in Mumbai. He is also an empanelled artist of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.
His concert career has taken him throughout India and abroad, with appearances at music festivals in Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia and collaborations with musicians from around the world. All India Radio has recognised him as a top-grade artist and broadcast four of his recitals in its national programmes.
A distinctive feature of his playing is the preservation of the raga’s character while balancing gayaki ang, the vocal style, with tantakari ang, the instrumental style. His disciplined approach and devotion to music are reflected in his mastery of gamak taans, among the sitar’s most demanding techniques. His command of the fingerboard is exemplary. The music he produces is pure melody, and audiences are captivated by the movement of his nimble fingers with every note he plays.
Album Notes Raga India has two principal classical musical traditions: Hindustani music in the north and Carnatic music in the south. Both employ the concept of raga, which cannot easily be defined in a few lines and has no direct equivalent in European classical music. A raga provides a melodic framework, expressed through ascending and descending patterns—aroha and avaroha—with at least five notes. Its identity depends upon the relationships between those notes and their characteristic movement in ascent and descent. Gandhara Project — coordinated by Stefano Fossati, then Director of…
India has two principal classical musical traditions: Hindustani music in the north and Carnatic music in the south. Both employ the concept of raga, which cannot easily be defined in a few lines and has no direct equivalent in European classical music. A raga provides a melodic framework, expressed through ascending and descending patterns—aroha and avaroha—with at least five notes. Its identity depends upon the relationships between those notes and their characteristic movement in ascent and descent.
Gandhara Project — coordinated by Stefano Fossati, then Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka.
The Greek historian Herodotus describes Gandhara as one of the most populous and wealthy provinces of the Persian Empire. Taxila, its principal centre, was a place where Vedic and Iranian learning and customs met.
Alexander of Macedon entered the region in 327 BC during his eastern campaign. In the centuries that followed, successive Indo-Greek kingdoms and sustained commercial and cultural exchanges connected this part of Asia with the Mediterranean world. These exchanges continued long after the decline of the Indo-Greek states.
Buddhist art flourished here, developing distinctive characteristics. Gandharan art is notable for stylistic qualities that reveal complex relationships with Greco-Roman and Parthian art, as well as for the distinctive Buddhist imagery that emerged in the region.
The Gandhara Project began in Japan in 2017, the Year of Japan–India Friendly Exchanges. It was conceived as an Italian tribute to the ancient cultures of India and Japan and to the importance of dialogue in cultural relations. As Keerthik Sasidharan wrote in The Hindu on 9 April 2017, “cultures survive and evolve via circulation, self-creation, appropriation, resistance, interpretation”. An Indian classical concert brought together the Indian musician Rafique Khan and the Italian musician Pepè Fiore. We hope that the project will extend to other countries, encouraging mutual understanding between cultures.
The following notes on the ragas are by Rafique Khan.
Rageshree is a particularly melodious raga, immediately appealing to the listener and associated with late evening or night.
The musical literature describes Rageshree as using both shuddha and komal nishad. Today, performers generally favour komal nishad, using shuddha nishad only rarely. In descent, S’ n D m G R S may be used, although S’ n D m G m R S is now more common. Madhyam is prominent, and the D–G relationship helps to define the raga, as in m G; m D G; G m n D; G m R S. Sometimes rishabh appears in ascent as a grace note to gandhar: S G (R)G m R S.
A variant using pancham is known as Pancham-Rageshree: G m P m G m R S; S’ n D m G m P m G m R S. This version is now rarely heard.
Sohani has a strong devotional character combined with a lighter mood. It is often chosen as a second piece or towards the end of a concert, leaving a vivid impression on the listener.
The quiet, evocative atmosphere of late night, just before dawn, aptly describes its mood. Its emotional intensity is expressed largely in the middle and upper registers, madhya and tar saptak. Sohani belongs to the Marwa thaat. Its notes resemble those of Marwa and Puriya, except that rishabh is omitted in ascent.
Charukeshi is a highly melodious raga with a strong devotional feeling. It was adopted from the South Indian Carnatic tradition into Hindustani music and is comparatively recent in this context. It can range freely through all three octaves.
Pancham is occasionally omitted in ascent or descent, as in G m d P or P d n d m G R. Charukeshi contains shades of several ragas: S R G m suggests Nat ang; G m d P suggests Bhairav ang; n S’ R’ S’ d and d n R’ S’ evoke Darbari; and R G m R S suggests Nat-Bhairav ang. Together, these elements give Charukeshi its individual, independent character.
Recorded at Sairam Studio, Mangalore, in August 2017. Sound engineer: Gururaj M B. Published for the first Japanese tour of Rafique Khan and Pepè Fiore in 2017, organised by the Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka and Musa International, with the support of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, the Consulate General of India in Osaka-Kobe and the Italian Consulate General in Osaka. Cover image: head of a bodhisattva, circa fourth century. Production, design and art direction: OMK–Da Vinci. Printed with the support of S.P.L.M. and the Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka.
