Raga Bilashkani Todi

Raga Bilashkani Todi is a 1957 recording of a North Indian classical raga performance by sitarist Ravi Shankar and sarod player Ali Akbar Khan. The piece spans 19 minutes and 57 seconds and exemplifies the dhrupad-ang style of alaap (unmetered improvisation) followed by a structured gat (composition) in Todi thaat.

The recording captures a live or studio session from the mid-20th century, though the exact date and location remain undocumented in widely available sources. Both artists employ the Bilashkani Todi variant, a rare and intricate raga associated with the Todi family but distinguished by its use of komal re (flattened second) and tivra ma (sharp fourth) in ascending and descending phrases. Shankar performs on a six-stringed sitar, while Khan uses the sarod, accompanied by an unnamed tanpura drone and tabla for rhythmic support in the gat section.

The release format and original label are unverified, but the recording circulated through private collections and later appeared on compilation albums dedicated to Indian classical instrumental music. Notable passages include an extended alaap where Shankar and Khan alternate melodic phrases, emphasizing the raga’s vadi (dominant note, dha) and samvadi (subdominant note, ga). The gat section introduces a rhythmic cycle, likely in teental (16 beats), though the specific taal is not explicitly confirmed in surviving documentation.

This collaboration reflects the jugalbandi (duet) tradition between Shankar and Khan, two foundational figures of the Maihar gharana (school) under the tutelage of Allauddin Khan. The recording predates their wider international recognition in the 1960s and 1970s, offering an early example of their interpretive approach to Todi ragas. No commercial reissues or remastered versions are definitively attributed to this specific performance as of available records.