Raga Malkauns: Vilambit Khayal

Ulhas Kashalkar performed Raga Malkauns: Vilambit Khayal as the second track on his 2007 album Nilaya. The recording spans 27 minutes and 30 seconds and showcases the Khayal form in the vilambit (slow) tempo. Kashalkar rendered the composition in the traditional dhrupad-ang style associated with the Gwalior and Jaipur-Atrauli gharanas, emphasizing intricate melodic development and rhythmic precision.

The album Nilaya released on June 12, 2007 under the Sense World Music label. The primary format was a commercial Compact Disc (CD), distributed internationally with liner notes detailing the raga’s structural and historical context. The recording session captured Kashalkar’s vocal technique, including meend (glissando), gamak (ornamentation), and taan (fast melodic passages), within the framework of Raga Malkauns, a pentatonic audav-audav raga from the Hindustani classical tradition.

The track opens with an alaap that establishes the raga’s chalan (melodic contour) before transitioning into the composed khayal section. Kashalkar accompanied the performance with Sanjoy Bandopadhyay on tabla and Ravikiran Nagaraj on tanpura, though the album credits do not specify additional instrumentalists or production personnel. The recording venue and production details remain undocumented in publicly available sources.

Nilaya received recognition for its adherence to classical conventions while demonstrating Kashalkar’s interpretive depth. The album’s repertoire includes other ragas, but Raga Malkauns: Vilambit Khayal stands as a central piece due to its extended duration and elaboration. The CD’s packaging features minimalist artwork, focusing on the artist’s name and raga titles without additional visual embellishments.

Kashalkar’s rendition aligns with his broader discography, which emphasizes rare and complex ragas. The 2007 release followed his earlier works under labels such as India Archive Music and Raga Records, consolidating his reputation as a practitioner of the gayaki (vocal) tradition rooted in 20th-century Hindustani classical music.