Ankhiyan Mori - Raga: Paraj

\"Ankhiyan Mori\" is a khayal composition in Raga Paraj performed by Kesarbai Kerkar, a prominent vocalist of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana in Hindustani classical music. The track appears as the twelfth entry on the compilation album Golden Milestones, released on August 2003 under the RPG label. The album features archival recordings of Kerkar’s performances, though the exact recording date of this track remains undocumented in widely available sources.

The composition adheres to the structural conventions of khayal, with Kerkar employing intricate taans (melodic improvisations) and bol-banao (textual embellishment) characteristic of her style. Raga Paraj, a rare raga associated with the late evening or early night, incorporates phrases from both Raga Todi and Raga Multani, lending it a contemplative and introspective quality. Kerkar’s rendition highlights her command over meend (glissando) and gamak (oscillation), techniques central to the Jaipur-Atrauli tradition.

The album Golden Milestones compiles selections from Kerkar’s discography, spanning studio recordings and live performances. The CD format release aimed to preserve her legacy for contemporary audiences, featuring liner notes that contextualize her contributions to 20th-century Hindustani music. While the album does not specify accompanying artists for this track, Kerkar frequently collaborated with tabla players such as Allarakha Khan and Shankar Ghosh in her later career. The absence of detailed session credits in the release documentation limits verification of the supporting musicians for this particular recording.

Kesarbai Kerkar (1892–1977) received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1953 and the Padma Bhushan in 1969 for her lifelong dedication to classical vocal music. Her interpretations of ragas like Paraj, along with her role as a guru to disciples including Jitendra Abhisheki and Prabha Atre, cemented her influence on subsequent generations of vocalists. The RPG reissue series, of which Golden Milestones is part, sought to digitize and disseminate her work amid growing interest in historical classical recordings during the early 2000s.