Performing at Kala Mandir on February 9, sitar player Nishat Khan showed he has developed along expected lines over the years. The core of his style showed itself in the first eight minutes of his alap in Yaman: the formulated workouts of his father, Imrat Khan, with a pinch of the artistry of his illustrious uncle, Ustad Vilayat Khan. Indo Occidental Symbiosis presented the recital to celebrate its third anniversary.

Nishat’s alap in Yaman opened with an exploration of the m D N S R segment with figures typical of his father, Imrat Khan. Deflections ending with the long nishad fade off (m D N – D P), typical of his uncle, the late Vilayat Khan, came next. The alap went on more or less systematically for 23 minutes with the blend of material originating from the father and uncle varying marginally in either direction in each sub-section. Formula perambulations common to both the elders formed the third element in Nishat Khan’s style, and he played everything with the skill and élan of the sitar gharana originating from Ustad Imdad Khan.

The 16-minute jod warmed up into a striking demonstration of skills like thunderous gamaks, one-handed krintans, long deflections and medium tempo Vilayat Khan taans with a significant amount of deflected notes and dramatic glides. The concluding jhala section comprised well-executed Vilayat Khan exercises.

The vilambit teental gatkari was centred on a khayal-style composition that Vilayat Khan played in his famous Yaman LP. In the record, the gatkari is in barhat (melodic development) ang. Since in this case the gatkari came after an alap, Nishat went in straightaway for mild rhythms based on tabla peshkar patterns in the Vilayat Khan manner. Zakir Hussain, the star tabla player, responded with short, to-the-point, replies. Nishat went on to play nicely, developing rhythmic patterns, and at one point replied to a fantastic development of the tabla phrase dha tit dhage thun na kat ta by Zakir Hussain in a longish round. In the final segment, Nishat developed fast deflected ekhara taans with the expected skill and artistry.

The drut teental gatkari in Nand was also very good, with Nishat playing excellent taankari, many of which drew spirited replies from Zakir Hussain. The gatkari was knit around two compositions. The first was based on a khayal composition that Nishat sang out a couple of times and featured excellent deria taankari in the style of Vilayat Khan. The second one, which Nishat described as being of his gharana, was played for a short while after which Nishat returned to the first composition.

In this section, Nishat directed brief spells of monologue at the audience very much in the manners of his father and uncle.