Classical Take

Pracheen Kala Kendra organised a special programme of Dilruba Esraj recital on Friday evening. On the stage was Delhi-based Dilruba Esraj maestro Ustad Allauddin Khan (in the picture) and his son Arshad Khan,who delighted music aficionados with their scintillating performance. The programme took place at Dr. MS Randhawa Auditorium of Punjab Kala Bhawan,Sector 16,Chandigarh.

Credited for being the first instrumentalist to perform Dilruba Esraj in a national programme on television and radio sangeet sammelan,1947 born Allauddin Khan belongs to a family of classical musicians who mastered the nuances of Sarangi under the tutelage of his father late Ustad Banne Khan and learned Dilruba Esraj under the guidance of Ustad Nazar Mohammad Khan and Mohammad Ali Khan of the Delhi gharana. While Dilruba and Esraj are two similar bowed stringed instruments,Allauddin Khan merges the two in one instrument Dilruba Esraj.

In Chandigarh,the veteran began his performance with raga maru bihag. While the initial alaap spoke volumes about his talent,vilambit (slow) and drut (fast) tempo compositions in teen-taal followed. The next composition,in drut teen taal in raga charukeshi,won thunderous applause. While Amjad Khan was on the tabla,an interesting session of sawaal-jawaab also took place between the father and son. The performance concluded with raga mishra pilu.