Amjad Ali Khan
2013-09-19
Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
7:30 PM, Thursday, September 19, 2013

[7:30 PM lights down, Introduction by ?house sound; musicians enter – first the tabla players, then Amjad Ali Khan; tuning; banter]

1. [7:38 PM] ?
2. [7:47 PM] Rag Durga
3. [8:00 PM] ? Rag Zirakaffy
4. [8:14 PM] ? (unidentified Tarana) »
5. [8:19 PM] ? fast rag ? [set ends 8:24 PM]

[8:45 PM lights down, musicians enter, intro banter, tuning]

1. [8:50 PM, no pop] ? »
2. [9:00 PM] ? »
3. [9:m PM] ?
4. [9:25 PM add pop; tuning; 9:30 PM go] Rag Kirwani
   [set ends 9:43 PM]
   
   No Encore

• Amaan Ali Khan: sarod (s2 only);
• Amjad Ali Khan: sarod, vox (s1to4);
• Ayaan Ali Khan: sarod (s2 only);
• Salar Nader: tabla.
• Vineet Vyas: tabla.

Even with introductions before most of the tunes, I had a very hard time catching the titles; must be going deaf or something! And although the tala was identified, discussed or otherwise mentioned occasionally, somehow I neglected to write down anything about it. My recollection is that most of the pieces were in 14 or 16 beats … a little too long for my untrained ear to count repeatedly!

Anyways, I really enjoyed how things unfolded tonight. The first set proceeded at a fairly slow, stately pace. While I missed hearing a long exploratory solo alap like Ali Akbar Khan used to do, I expected Amjad Ali Khan to play with his own style, and I enjoyed it despite it's difference from the pattern set by my previous listening experience. I was also surprised to note how different the playing of the two drummers was from one another. The reason for this was later revealed when Amjad mentioned later on in the show that each of the two came from distinctly different schools of practice. Being somewhat uncultured as far as tabla pedagogy goes, I can't even begin to say anything worthwhile about the difference that I noted. The best I can do right now is to say that Nader played with a more rapid-fire, fluttery style than Vyas, who's time-keeping was marked by more emphatic contrast between the hand-heel strikes and the finger strikes.

Because the house wasn't more than 2/3 full, we took the opportunity to move downstairs at setbreak to the center of row G, and I noticed some very interesting difference between the two locations. In terms of vision, from upstairs, the performers appeared to be tiny radiant beings, bursting out of the surrounding darkness. From downstairs, the performers seemed far more human and the drop-off in stage lighting was not nearly as noticeable. It's entirely possible that the house lights weren't brought down as far for set two as for the first, but it reinforced my impression that sitting downstairs helped me feel more like an active listener and less like a passive observer. Secondly, the sound upstairs was really quite good, and for tonight at least, the audience there was far quieter during the show. Sitting downstairs, it was hard not to be distracted by the not-quite-whispered conversations going on all around us, or by the occasional crunch of a plastic cup, or slap of a falling program. Upstairs? Blissful silence. Overall, I suppose this validates my decision to purchase balcony seats for most of the shows this season, but I guess it also means I'll be doing a lot of eyes-closed-listening – removing the distracting distance helps me feel “more there” in the ever-unfolding musical moment.

Getting back to the show, Amaan and Ayaan performed with a somewhat frisky, more flashy approach than their father. Amaan particularly seemed to delight in making astonishingly fast runs and ferocious bends. I didn't catch their transition to a third raga – probably because they'd said they were going to do two – but upon finishing that part of the set, Ayaan apologized for seguing into a new tune without warning us. I guess that's just how it goes sometimes.

Amjad Ali Khan then joined his sons for a final tune, Rag Kirwani. After a brief solo development from Amjad, he began to trade licks with Amaan, who responded with remarkably perfect imitations. When it came to Ayaan's turn for this, it was clear that either his ear or fingers were slightly off compared with his brother, yet Ayaan still turned in very creditable responses, earning a happy grin from his father. Following brief solo sections for each of the tabla players, the final portion of the performance consisted of all three Khans ripping through lightning unison melodic runs while the drummers did their best to keep pace (Nader was thrown off completely at least once a few minutes before the piece ended, but he recovered quite nicely).

And while I was slightly disappointed that we weren't granted an encore, I was plenty satisfied with the performance that was delivered!

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