About Inde du Nord
Inde du Nord is a studio album by Indian classical sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, released on February 1993 under the French label Ocora. The recording presents traditional North Indian (Hindustani) classical music in a solo sarod format, accompanied by tanpura and tabla. The album was issued as a commercial CD and marks one of Khan’s early international releases aimed at Western audiences through Ocora’s world music catalog.
The album features six tracks centered on two ragas: Miya-ki-Malhar and Zila-Kafi. Khan performs an extended exploration of Miya-ki-Malhar across four movements, beginning with a slow alap that establishes the raga’s melodic framework. This progresses into a dhamar section in a 14-beat cycle, followed by compositions in ek-tal (12 beats) and teen-tal (16 beats), showcasing the sarod’s percussive and melodic capabilities. The second half of the album shifts to Zila-Kafi, a raga derived from the Kafi thaat, performed in two contrasting tempos: a vilambit (slow) composition in teen-tal and a drut (fast) piece in til-tal.
The recording captures Khan’s signature style, characterized by precise left-hand fingering and the use of the jodhpur-style sarod, which lacks sympathetic strings. The accompaniment details—including the tabla player’s identity and tanpura tuning—are not documented in the available release information. Ocora’s production emphasizes clarity and minimal post-processing, aligning with the label’s focus on ethnomusicological authenticity.
Inde du Nord reflects Khan’s role in globalizing Hindustani instrumental music during the 1990s. The album’s title, translating to ‘North India,’ positions the work within Ocora’s series of regional classical traditions. While the release date is confirmed as February 1993, specific recording locations or session dates remain undocumented in public sources. The album remains in print through Ocora’s back catalog and has been referenced in discographies of Khan’s international collaborations.
