New Sitar

New Sitar is a studio album by Indian classical sitarist Ustad Rais Khan. Released in 1983 on the Loft label, the album marked one of Khan’s early international recordings and showcased his interpretation of North Indian classical music on the sitar. The release appeared in a 12\" vinyl LP format with a total of three tracks.

The album opens with Raga Yaman Kalyan, a prominent evening raga in the Hindustani tradition. Khan performs the composition in the vilambit (slow) and drut (fast) sections, accompanied by tabla. The second track, titled Dhun, features a lighter, semi-classical piece rooted in folk melodies, demonstrating Khan’s versatility beyond strict khayal structures. The closing track, Ghazal, integrates poetic and melodic elements of the ghazal genre, blending classical phrasing with lyrical expression.

The recording session details, including accompanying artists and production personnel, remain partially undocumented in available sources. The album’s release aligned with Khan’s rising prominence in the 1980s as a representative of the Indore gharana, a school of sitar playing founded by his grandfather, Ustad Amir Khan. Loft, the label, specialized in world music and jazz during this period, though its broader catalog and distribution scope for this release are not fully verified.

New Sitar contributed to the global dissemination of Hindustani classical music in the early 1980s, offering Western audiences an introduction to Khan’s technical precision and emotive improvisation. The vinyl pressing included liner notes, though their authorship and content specifics are not widely archived. Later reissues or digital remasters of the album, if any, lack confirmed documentation in public records.