About Raga Mishra Piloo - Duet for Sitar & Sarod
Raga Mishra Piloo – Duet for Sitar & Sarod is a collaborative studio album by Indian classical musicians Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan. The release captures a live-to-tape duet performance featuring Shankar on sitar and Khan on sarod. The album centers on a single raga, Mishra Piloo, a hybrid raga derived from the Piloo thaat with influences from other melodic frameworks.
Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan recorded the album in a single session, dividing the performance into two continuous movements. The tracklist includes Raga Mishra Piloo (Beginning) and Raga Mishra Piloo (Conclusion), spanning the entire composition without additional pieces. The recording emphasizes the interplay between sitar and sarod, showcasing the distinct timbral and technical approaches of each instrument within the alaap-jor-jhala structure.
The album released on January 1, 1984, in CD format. No original label information is explicitly documented in available sources, though historical context suggests possible distribution through major Indian classical music publishers of the era. The performance adheres to the North Indian classical tradition, with both artists employing improvisational techniques characteristic of the gayaki ang (vocal-style phrasing) in instrumental rendition.
Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan were longtime collaborators, and this recording stands as one of their few documented duets. The album’s focus on Mishra Piloo reflects the raga’s adaptability to extended exploration, with the artists navigating its melodic contours through gradual development. The absence of percussion or additional accompaniment directs attention to the dialogue between the two lead instruments.
Critical reception and commercial performance details for this release remain undocumented in accessible archives. The album serves primarily as an archival representation of the artists’ interpretive styles during the mid-1980s. Later reissues or remasters, if any, are not verified in available records.