About Gayaki Sitar
Gayaki Sitar is an Indian classical music album by sitarist Hasu Patel. The album was released on January 1, 1999. It features Patel performing three ragas on the sitar, emphasizing a vocal-influenced (gayaki) style of playing.
Hasu Patel recorded the album as a solo instrumental release. The primary format of the album is an audio CD. The label for the release has not been publicly documented.
The album contains three tracks. The first track, Raga Darbari-Kanada, presents a slow and meditative alap followed by a structured gat in jhaptal and teental. The second track, Raga Yaman Kalyan, showcases a vilambit (slow) and drut (fast) composition in teental. The third track, Raga Bhairavi, concludes the album with a traditional morning raga rendered in a semi-classical thumri style.
Patel employs meend (glissando), gamak (ornamentation), and other vocal techniques to emulate the nuances of khayal gayaki on the sitar. The album reflects Patel’s training under sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan, who popularized the gayaki ang (vocal style) in sitar performance.
The total duration of the album has not been officially specified. The release remains a notable example of the gayaki sitar tradition within Indian classical music.