About All India Radio Archival Release Vol. 3
All India Radio Archival Release Vol. 3 is a compilation album featuring a live performance by sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan. The recording captures Khan’s rendition of two classical ragas in the Hindustani tradition. The album was released on compact disc by T-Series as part of a series dedicated to archival broadcasts from All India Radio. The release date remains undocumented in publicly available sources.
The album contains two tracks. Khan performs Raga Puriya, a late-evening raga associated with the Puriya thaat, characterized by its use of komal re (flattened second) and komal dha (flattened sixth). The second composition is Raga Kaunsi Kanara, a rare and intricate raga derived from the Kanara ang, often linked to the late-night or early-morning hours. Both performances showcase Khan’s distinctive gayaki ang (vocal-style phrasing) on the sitar, a technique he developed to emulate the nuances of khayal singing.
The recording originates from an All India Radio broadcast, though the exact date and location of the original performance are not specified in the album’s liner notes or accompanying documentation. The audio quality reflects the technical standards of mid-20th-century radio recordings, preserved and remastered for commercial release. T-Series issued the album as part of its efforts to digitize and distribute historical Indian classical music archives.
Vilayat Hussain Khan (1928–2004) was a prominent exponent of the Imdadkhani gharana, known for his innovations in sitar design and performance. His contributions to Hindustani classical music include the development of the gayaki ang style and the modification of the sitar’s structure to enhance its resonance. This release serves as one of the few officially sanctioned recordings of his radio performances available in CD format.