About Maestro's Choice: Series One: Surbaha
Maestro’s Choice: Series One: Surbaha is a studio album by Indian classical sitarist and surbahar player Ustad Imrat Khan. Released in 1991 under the label Music Today, the album features Khan performing on the surbahar, a bass variant of the sitar known for its deep tonal resonance and sustained melodic phrasing. The recording captures his interpretation of two ragas in the Hindustani classical tradition.
The album comprises two tracks. The first, Raga Mian Ki Malhar, belongs to the Malhar family of ragas traditionally associated with the monsoon season. Khan’s rendition emphasizes the raga’s expansive alaps and intricate jor-alap sections, showcasing the surbahar’s capacity for prolonged note development. The second track, Raga Shyam Kalyan, is a variant of the Kalyan thaat and is characterized by its evening performance context. Khan’s treatment highlights the raga’s lyrical and meditative qualities through slow, deliberate taans and gamak-laden phrases.
The release format is a commercial CD, part of the Maestro’s Choice series curated by Music Today. The series aimed to present recordings by eminent classical musicians in a high-fidelity audio format. The album’s production reflects the technical standards of early 1990s studio recordings, with an emphasis on clarity and dynamic range to accommodate the surbahar’s lower register.
No additional details about the recording sessions, accompanying artists, or live performance context are documented in available sources. The album remains a reference for Imrat Khan’s surbahar technique and his contributions to the Hindustani instrumental repertoire. The 1991 release date aligns with Khan’s active period as a performing and recording artist, during which he frequently collaborated with major Indian classical music labels.