Chaiti Dhun

Chaiti Dhun is a raga-based instrumental composition performed by sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan and tabla player Shanta Prasad. The track appears as the fifth piece on the album Inspiration India – Duets for Sitar, Surbahar, Shehnai, released on March 1996 under the EMI Classics label. The recording spans 13 minutes and 5 seconds and exemplifies the Hindustani classical tradition through an improvisational dhun (light classical melody) structured in the Chaiti style, traditionally associated with the spring season.

The album Inspiration India compiles collaborative works featuring the sitar, surbahar, and shehnai alongside percussion. Vilayat Khan contributed sitar performances across multiple tracks, while Shanta Prasad provided tabla accompaniment for this specific recording. The format of the release is a compact disc (CD), part of EMI Classics’ series promoting cross-instrumental classical fusions. No additional session musicians or production credits are documented in the available context.

The composition reflects Vilayat Khan’s signature gayaki ang (vocal-style phrasing) on the sitar, a technique he developed to emulate the fluidity of khayal singing. Shanta Prasad’s tabla playing complements the melodic exploration with rhythmic cycles characteristic of the Benares gharana. The track omits lyrical content, focusing instead on instrumental interplay. Further details about the recording location, specific raga framework beyond the Chaiti influence, or live performance context remain unverified in the provided information.