Mirkhand and Amir Khan

Forgotten Patterns: "Mirkhand" and Amir Khan
Author(s): Thomas W. Ross

Source: Asian Music, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Spring - Summer, 1993), pp. 89-109
Published by: University of Texas Press
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Volume XXIV, number 2 ASIAN MUSIC Spring/Summer 1993
FORGOTTEN PATTERNS: MIRKHAND AND AMIR KHAN

by
Thomas W. Ross
The influence of the late Ustad Amir Khan on India's classical

music is spreading like ripples in a pond, such that hardly a music
in the Hindustani North can be unaware of what this khy&l master di
He even stands as a musician's musician in the Karnatak South, an
accolade that counts perhaps more than his numerous national honors.
Those who have had the fortune of hearing Khansahab'sI

music never forget it; and there are several recordings of
performances which convey much of the experience. It is easy to lo
track of time while hearing Amir Khan's khyal singing. In a reverie,
listener may fail to notice that improvisational forays treating mere
three or four notes had occupied twenty minutes, or more!
How does he achieve this? His use of majestically lengthened

tala-cycles and other elements of a grand design divert us from
considering Amir Khan as miniaturist. But it is precisely to the details
that one must look in order to gain a better understanding of his
festooned khyal-singing, and therewith to speculate on the notions of
innovation and improvisation from an Indic viewpoint. For this, a
rewarding avenue is to inquire into Amir Khansahab's reconciliation of
rapa (a raga's formal demands) with mTrkhand (permutational
patterns).2
The history, chief musical devices, and gharana styles of khyal

are treated by Wade (1984) and Neuman (1980). Wade has also given
good stylistic sketches of singers, including Amir Khan (ibid:266ff). But
few instances can be found which probe the details of an individual
khy.I singer's style extensively. My two-year discipleship with Amir
Khansahab in Calcutta and Bombay is a unique vantage from which to
assay this. It would be revealing to examine his treatment of time, his
sargam (improvised solfege), tans (rapid passages on vowels), or
compositional endeavors: each of these deserves its own investigation.
Here, however, I shall focus on his improvisation in the lower regions
of two ragas, Abhog1 Kanada and Kedar.
A two-hour khyal recital might consist of two major ragas,

each rendered first in a slow or vilambit tala cycle of 12 or 14 beats.3
During these opening sections, the bistar (or visttr, "development"--
90 Asian Music, Spring/Summer 1993
akin to the free-rhythm al9p) showcases the singer's learning and

improvisatory mettle. One can also say that it explores both a raga's
highlights and hidden corners during a journey through its gamut.
Amir Khan's bistar plumbed untold depths in ragas through an
especially penetrating concentration on their emphasized notes and
characteristic phrases. Passages in a raga's unfolding which, in the
hands of another musician, would be cursorily alluded to were given a
new scrutiny: permuting their sequential possibilities, focusing on one
note for some time while neglecting a neighbor, and so on. Thus the
bistar of a "large" raga like Darbarl could easily exceed an hour's
time--no easy matter, if one wishes to hold an audience's attention
with such slow-moving exposition. A commentator notes some traits of
Khansahab's music:
Amir Khan's vocalism was marked by classical

purity. It revealed a leisurely pace and a
meticulous unfolding of the musical mode. He
never displayed virtuosity for its own sake but
concentrated on the spirit of his raga. The
quiet, unhurried progression ... showed his fine
sense of the subtle and the beautiful. What
finally stood out were the architectonics of a
master builder.4
By "architectonics" one first understands the structure

bistar improvisation taken as a whole. But this consists in tur
nested, smaller-scale structures: statements of bistar occupying
or more tala-cycles; within each statement, "gestures"
paragraphs) built from a number of phrases; and note-patterns
each phrase. It is to this last microcosmic structure-level th
shall "zoom in" for a closer look.
Perhaps the prime generator of such note-patterns is a raga's

rupa, its "shape" or canon of formal characteristics. The tersest way
to evoke the reipa is by the ascent and descent, the &roha-avaroha.
Thus AbhogT Kanada, a five-note raga, writ small is
12b346 1-1 64b32 1
A slightly expanded chalan ("way of moving") might be
1 b3 2 b3 4 6 1 - i 6 4 b3 2 - b3 4 - 2 - 1
Ross: Amir Khan 91
Re, the second degree, can be omitted in the ascent: 1

1. Along with these introductory guidelines for Abhogl, a te
hasten to underline the importance given to ma and sa, degr
1 (ma is stressed further by tuning the tampura drone 4 - 1
instead of the usual 5 - 1 - 1 - 1). The third degree of Abho
sometimes has indolan, a slowly undulating ornament. This o
on ga, often appearing in the catch-phrase bga ma - re - sa (
- 1), places it in the Kanada raga group: hence the nam
Kanada.
The latter are the primary givens which honor the ra

of Abhogl when conscientiously carried out. One notes t
passage performed by the brothers SalAmat and Nazakat Ali
4~Attkait- S4altro -d b i &i __
A 1 I__-
;i_~---~ __ _
__ ---p-:_
AYIt
nz A
_____ -- - +-+7 7 -tt~-

C~~_____ ______ _______________ _
, I-- - - =,.
Agt a E-"-Ia 4 #
toI
- ~ri40
The range covered in this excerpt, lasting a minute and a half,

is large: an octave from low ma (degree 4) to middle ma. Nazakat Khan
expands in both directions from the central sa tonic, in note-values
ranging from rather short to extremely quick. Above sa, degree 2
receives some attention (6 2 - 1), and one hears b3 in the Kanada
phrase b3 4 2 - 1 (statement Cl).
Nazakat Khan tends to sing short sustained-note phrases

followed by quick-value longer phrases, covering a large ambitus. The
brothers' approach to presenting the raga is to paint a broad picture
of it (here, the octave from low to middle ma), and then to go over the
same area several times in detail. One senses that the statements,
divided by mukh.ris (a fragment of the composition's beginning used as

a point of return), could be offered in any order without ill effect. The
focus shifts rapidly from dha, to ma, to sa, to ga and re, yielding
presentation of all the raga's facets which gradually drifts upward.
The slow oscillation on the third degree, the emphasis on 4 and

1, the b3 4 2 1 Kanada catch-phrase: all these are idiosyncrasies tha
give Abhogi Kanada its irrational charm. Each raga has a discrete
explicit canon or raga-rUpa of this sort, and some are simple, while
others are complex. But outside of any raga's canon lie practice-
techniques which are relentlessly rational, and therefore are bound at
times to be at odds with the demands of the ripa. In the style
advanced by Amir Khan, perhaps the most stressed technique is
mTrkhan d. As a pedagogical exercise, it exhausts, in systematic
fashion, all sequential combinations of a number of contiguous notes.
Three-note and four-note arrays are deemed, because of their
relative brevity, the most practical. The procedure for three notes
has, as its first set (a), degrees 1, 2, and 3 (sa, re, ga):
(a) 1 2 3
213
132
312
231
321
Ross: Amir Khan 93
The phrases are in pairs which end in successively lower no

exercise then applies the same pattern to higher arrays of
possible notes:
(b) 234 (c) 345 (d) 456 (e) 567 (f) 67 1 (g) 7 i
324 435 546 657 761 172
243 354 465 576 617 72

423 534 645 756 167 271
342 453 564 675 716 127
432 543 654 765 176 17

With four notes, a similar pattern of success
seen (and it can be heard), as in the array u
4 (sa, re, ga, ma):
(a) 1234 (b) 1243 (c) 1342 (d) 2341
2134 2143 3142 3241
1324 1423 1432 2431
3124 4123 4132 4231
2314 2413 3412 3421
3214 4213 4312 4321
The exercise then applies the

(a) 2345 (b) 2354 (c) 2453 (d) 3452
3245 3254 4253 4352
2435 2534 2543 3542
4235 5234 5243 5342
3425 3524 4523 4532
4325 5324 4523 5432
One would then put the degrees 3 4 5 6 through the same

procedure, reminiscent of English change-ringing or bell-tone
permutation. All possible combinations of four contiguous notes from
seven scale-degrees generate 168 (7 x 24) patterns. Adding a note to
the array increases the combinations factorially: although generally
considered impractical, the same process produces 840 combinations
of five notes (the renowned sitarist Nikhil Banerjee, himself an ardent
admirer of Amir Khansahab, was said to be a master of the five-note
set).
Besides having its own elegant rationality, the organization of

the patterns stresses ways by which to arrive at notes, and this can
be especially useful if the note is a strong one in the raga. A student
is encouraged to practice mirkhand, in slow phrases bearing in mind
the raga at hand, as well as in quick, percussive renditions. Mastery
of mirkhand promotes agility and precision; it lends the musician
control over the most convoluted of sargam (solfege) passages, and is
useful for tan melismas if practiced using a vowel instead of solfege.
Especially if they aren't too laden with rules, major seven-, six-, or
five-tone ragas lend themselves easily to mlrkhand for daily practice.
However, the student receives the caveat6 that rmfrkhand are

to be cultivated at home but never implemented literally in public
performance. One should learn mirkhand and then "forget" them. An
obvious reason for this is that too much order, unmodulated, yields a
machine-like boredom. Moreover, the process discovers some note-
sequences which may sit uneasily with a given raga's rules. M1rkhand
applied to the first four notes of Abhogi would produce
1 2 b3 4
2 1 b3 4
1 b3 2 4
b3 1 2 4
2 b3 1 4
b3 2 1 4,
Ross: Amir Khan 95
of which 2 1 b3 4 and b3 2 1 4 are viable phrases in Abhog'i. Phr

b3 2 4 and b3 1 2 4 depart from the rUpa by omitting degree 3
ascent. One might counterbalance the unidiomatic b3 - 1 of 2
by surrounding it with unequivocal Abhogl phrases. Thus, the b
2 - 1 Kanada phrase, and the resemblance to other ragas if
such as ga are skipped, makes choices suggested by mlrkh
somewhat limited in this four-note region of Abhogl Kanada.
If the procedure is applied to a less circumscribed arr

Abhogi-notes, more phrases devolve which are legitimate:
b3 4 6 1
4 b3 ~ 1
b3 4 1
6 b3 4 1
4 6 b3 1
6 4 b3 1
b3 4 1 6
4 b4 1 6 ..
These combinations, and the ones that would follow, are within a
freewheeling area of Abhogl (b 4 1). If some of them are chosen,
taste will decide how they should be couched. Ma dha bga sa (4 6 b
1), for example, is extremely angular and might be best offset if
prepared and followed by less adventuresome phrases.
Thus mirkhand can seldom be directly quoted: the patterns

must be "forgotten," even while taking advantage of some of the note-
sequences they suggest. To avoid sounding perfunctory or simply
wrong (in raga), Amir Khansahab applies mirkhand by the spirit rather
than the letter, and this is one of the keys to his art. The influence of
this technique may be seen in passages which manage to reconcile a
tightly ordered permutational system with a raga's grab-bag of
strictures and freedoms, as in this Abhogli excerpt:
mzt -z Of
___- ::~_
. . . . 77 7 . .....
_ _ ____-, 7.. .
_46-1i'fl~lr_
_ __ ._ ._ 1..
____
'WOO-_
___
,.,LlO~~~eo " " -'--- -
~P IO :T;e(l4 I___
-one--
_f --- 7 IC/-
IV
Ok
r ---- ;::-7 - ___

f- vf-f - -- --? I _____ssssss~ ---
I _-1A- _ -T 77-? _ -Zt--
NT
---jill---- 'i!7-# -''"r

_ _ _6 _ _ _
Af
OVA--b ---+
Ross: Amir Khan 97
On the "FOCUS" staff of the transcription, showing t
structural tones of each passage, notice that in each of the

statements A through D, the sixth degree, dha, is prominent, with
subsidiary notes in parentheses alongside it. Amir Khan devises
phrases
in this in the raga
passage, thewhich
note center
dha --on a particular
and each phrasenote as a theme
brings out a --
previously hidden shade in this theme note.
Subtle qualities such as the sonority of Khansahab's voice and

the timings of the phrases aid in ways that are perhaps beyond a
written portrayal. But it is possible, with such a reductive
transcription, to discuss the shifting balance of pitches surroundin
the theme note, which usually appears at the ends of phrases. Fo
example, all four phrases of statement A center on dha. In Al, it is
- 4.
approached from below by ga and ma (degrees b3 and 4): bj - 4. - -
A2 devotes a little more attention to ga and ma, but contains a
long
the dha toward
toriginsmings itsphrases
of the beginning; it also
aid in ways ends
thaterns, ontabulatedperhaps
ares dha: 4 6 - - below:nd
b$ 4 b$a 4-
A3 shifts a little toward ga, but again ends with dha: b -4.-
And
introducing A4end
at its steers away
a new note,from ga, sa.
the tonic touching dha repeatedly,
Lookn, showing while
thmore closely
at this last phrase, one notices that it consists of three phrases, each
casting a different light on dha: () b: 4degree, dha, is(1) 4prominent, 1 - 6.with
Many phrases from the biston a passage appear no to have their
origins in b3-4-~ and 4-~-i m'Irkhancd patterns, as tabulated below:
mlrkhand pattern bistar phrase
b3 4 6 Al, A2, A4, BL, C3, C4
4 b? 6 A3
b? 6 4
Sb 4
4 6 b? A2
6 4 b?
4 6 1 D1, El
6 4 1 DI
41 6 D2
146
614 D3
1 4 C2, C3, DI, D2
A few
note phrases
arrays. Somesuch as 1are
patterns 6 bespecially
4. (D3) may plausibly
prominent derive
because their from four-
last note ends a phrase, while others are imbedded in a larger
gesture. Here, Amir Khan's ability to keep dha fresh under scrutiny
(and to suspend the listener's perception of time) seems beholden to
the shell-game dexterity that m1rkhand imparts.
In untrammeled arrays such as the b3-4-6-1 region of Abhogi,

mirkhand's note-for-note influence is demonstrable in Amir Khan's
music. But what about the thornier, more circuitous ragas, such as
Kedar? This melodic type shares with Abhogl the use of ma and sa as
the stressed and end-note pitches. Beyond this, its nature lies in
contrast. It is quite vakra (angular) in melodic habit, with an ascent
and descent as follows:
Ross: Amir Khan 99
1435651-1765"454-21
A slightly expanded chalan might be
1435-456b7 6 5 1 - 1 7 6 5 4 5 4 - 2 1
Ambivalence stemming from the use of both fourth degree

heightened in mind (slow slides) between the two notes. Very sl
mind occurs around both 4s and 5. Phrases may dip below to 2 o
upwards briefly to 6, but much time can be devoted to permutations
4, *4, and 5 alone in the course of mind-laden phrases. Some will
that *4 may not pass directly to 4, but must touch 5 first, altho
this is not evident in Amir Khan's performance of the raga.
Extensive sliding also occurs from 4 to 2, as long as one do

not rest on 2 (sounding too much like ragas Megh or Chhaya
resolves it as 4 - - 2 1 2 - - 1. In sliding from 4 to 2 (or in the ph
*4 5 4 - - 2), one should touch 4 with emphasis to avoid sounding
Chhaya, which shows ga, degree 3, a little more prominently dur
the same descending gliss. The phrase 4 2 5 - smacks of the Mal
raga family and should be avoided, as should 1 2 4 5, which evoke
rang. Komal (flatted) ni, degree 7, shows up in figurations such as
6 - b7 6 - 5 and 5 6 - b7 6 - 5. It is also possible to discern a hint
komal ga (lower degree 3), in ornament but not in solfege, thus:
(b3) 1.
The lore of Kedar's raga-ripa (and the list could go on!) is thus
considerably more extensive than that of Abhogi, and its
improvisatory scope is accordingly more regulated. But as in any art,
mastery is required to discover the freedoms within these confines. In
the following passage of Kedar bistar, Amir Khan spends some four
minutes shifting a balance from degree 2 to 4 (re to ma) 7
Am__ha - E~ b;+fj+7 r
AL W 77-7,
.... _ ____. __,u _-__+- -- _+_+ :u_ _-_ _ _ _

___ __- - _ _ __ .. .. . _ _. .... . . II
IIrUrZPi
. . . . __ _ __
t_. .-.. .. '_ _ _ l_ _ __ ) _ _ __... ..... ..._

- 1 AF_1- . . . . . _
_-_ _- z.--
7. _' - "
_ U x7 H 7---4y 323- ---4?-i - -_____________
S-50
I f
I 'IfT-~---
. . ~I ....... -.. x .
%... - i r --
ny v " ~ n
Ross: Amir Khan 101
:00.
. - ' " " 3-Lo

of--- I, f
X _ ___ _-:
- -"'O___ ______
__ __
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
F _~_--------- - ___ ~ ____ itt~c_
l?' I VV~T7~
;,-i CA
_ir - v f ___ _ i _
The rather straightforward canon for AbhogT, as we have

seen, admits some mfirkhancd-inspired passages. But the angularity and
catch-phrases of Kedar's melodic type would make a search for note-
for-note mirkhand thinking fruitless. However, the principle of this
permutational technique can be uncovered here if a few basic Kedar
phrases (and their paraphrases) are substituted for individual notes in
the patterning. Our excerpt can be boiled down to the following
gestures:
I (4) 2 - 1 (ma) re - sa
II 5 - 1 pa - sa
III 1 - 5 sa - pa
IV 5 - 4 pa - ma
V 1 (4) - 5 sa (ma) - pa
When each gesture is given a Roman numeral (as seen i

transcription), and the numbers grouped according to breath
and other dividers, sequences emerge which may owe muc
extrapolation, to the practice of mirkhand.
Statement Phrase Gesture-Sequence
A 1 I II I III
2 I III I II
3 I 11II II I
4 VI II IV
5 V II I
6 VI I II I
7 III II II [mukhral
Ross: Amir Khan 103
B 1 V IV I
2 IV IV
3 V IV I IV
4 I II I
5 IV V IV I IV
6 I III II ... I[mukhral
C 1 V IV I
2 IV IV
3 V IV II IV
4 I 11II II I
5 V IV I
6 II IV I
7 V IV I [mukhral
D 1 V IV
2 V IV I
3 V IV V IV I II
4 II IIV
5 IV III II I[mukhral]
Here mirkhand's putative influence can be discern

gesture-sequences rather than note-sequences. Gesture-sequences
such as (I) II I III - (I) III I II - (I) III II I in bistar
statement A; V IV I - IV V I in B; and V IV I - IV I V in C
demonstrate the permutational principle. The following depicts how

the paraphrases reduce to gestures that implement the principle:
-} _ _Z,
_-
n ~~ .. .._._ -___3.jL7
Ut _ - - zz _ -
___,C- .. . --. ----?-
-,------ . -
AO _
, _____-_ ,____-_.----_--- --
Ae Z!Of_____ ___ ___ ___ __ __
~~ll'1T _______2__ III~ -~r U- 1 - - i--
Ott 0--- UO
- I- __j -iiZ!X __-_I_- -

I3 #fJ - F - ----------
__ ___ -?--- ________ -----
-- , _-- _ _ . . . __ -
_ _ _ __t _ ______--
r- ---'t ~ __ ____ __ -
=~=-~ 27+Z4Iil~Lj- ___
4M, ?W--- --- ..
_ -I-7.-/ _ . --
CL __ __ -~-__' __
Ross: Amir Khan 105
I (4) 2 - 1 (ma) re - sa _
II 5 - 1 pa - sa
III 1 - 5 sa - pa
IV 5 - 4 pa - ma
V 1 (4) - 5 sa (ma)- pa
The sequences Al through A3 all begin with I, but then

permute gestures I, II, and III. Sequences B1-2 and C1-2 permute I,
IV, and V, serving incidentally as a good illustration of two different
paraphrases of the sequence V IV I - IV I V. However, sequences
such as V IV - V IV I - V IV V IV I II in bistar D (1-3) show a
cumulative gesture-sequence, unlike m-rkhand patterns.
As far as I know, seeing mirkhand's influence in the

arrangement of gesture-sequences is unrecognized in both written
and oral commentary about Indian music: and yet if mirkhand is
rightly taken as a principle of permutation rather than solely as a
specific series of note-sequences, its presence may well be
discernible in certain parts of Khansahab's bistar in Kedar.
Focusing on these details reveals the deftness of Amir Khan's

minutiae: to vary the approaches to and departures from important
notes is continually to refine their evocative power. A raga such as
the relatively straight-up-and-down Abhogl admits an application of
mlrkhand in note-sequences, while mirkhand's influence may be
deduced in the permutation of gesture-paraphrases in the angular
Kedar. Whether on the level of note or phrase, the singer must
control details even while keeping track of a larger design, and this is
a clue to Khansahab's artistry. How the sequencing of a raga's
phrases fits into the yet larger time-spans of the ultra-slow 14-beat
Jhomra tala favored by Amir Khan, and how these tala-cycles in turn
may be seen to be counterbalanced in an overarching awareness of
architectonic design, await future analyses. Such studies may once
again reveal the permutational principle: indeed, it is from this
vantage that Jairazbhoy has noted that "the whole concept of the
development of the melodic line in ... khayal [sic] seems to have a
marked similarity to the development of the sequences of [mirkhand]"
(Jairazbhoy 1961:313).
It appears that Amir Khan employed mirkhand obliquely to

meet the rupa or formal demands of each raga.8 The way in which
these sometimes inimical forces interact in Khansahab's music is, I
hope, clearer through the examples presented here. "Khyal" means
"idea" or "imagination." Mirkhand serves, then, as a lever for the
imagination, too mechanical and thoroughgoing to be quoted directly.
But in a master's hand, a mundane tool can produce great art.
Descrying mlrkhand's variational role helps to show how Amir

Khansahab is able to hold just a few notes under a powerful lens,
revealing hitherto unheard wonders; and it is especially this that has
attracted and inspired generations of musicians and music-lovers from
both North and South India. He has been called innovative. But this
plays down the fact that Amir Khan's style is illustrious equally
because it honors traditional precepts of good singing (hence the
"classical purity" alluded to by our earlier commentator): the
treatment of tala is both assured and ingenious, and the approach to
raga, one component of which I have examined here, manages to
honor and illuminate the proper rfpa even while coaxing out the
unexpected. Innovation here is in the manner of old wines in new
bottles, rather like the work of Miles Davis in jazz.9
This view of mlrkhand's role also sheds light on that sometimes

befogged term "improvisation" (see Nettl 1974; Powers 1980): it affords
instances wherein a performance is neither purely out-of-the-blue
extemporizing nor rote recitation. At least seen from the perspective
of Indian music, one can say (with a nod to T. S. Eliot) that a good
improvisation mixes memory with desire: the concordance of familiar
raga-phrases meets the striving of bistar's invention - an invention
aided, as we have seen, by mirkhancd.
Union College
Ross: Amir Khan 107
Notes
N.B.: In addition to the cited bibliography, much of the raga-r

descriptions are from my direct discipleship with Ustad Amir
and tutelage from his senior disciples, Srikant Bakre and K
Banerjee. I am also indebted to A. Kanan and Malabika Kanan for
additional information.
1 A Muslim master (Ustad) such as Amir Khan may be referred to as

"Khansahab," "Amir Khansahab," or with a reduplicative honorific:
"Khansahab Amir Khan." In addition to providing the variety good
prose enjoys, these usages (with all the familiarity wielded by a
devotee or student) seem to me to be as appropriate as referring, on
occasion, to Lester Young as "Pres," to Davis as "Miles," or indeed to
desPres as "Josquin" in academic writing.
2 From Sanskrit khanda-meru, "mountain of squares," referring to the

pyramidal form obtained by writing out the successively lengthening
patterns. Today's parlance may use mirkhand interchangeably with
prastgra, "permutation." See Jairazbhoy 1961.
3 If our ragas were selected for concert performance, a proper time-

zone and sequence for them might be: Kedar, 7-8 pm; Abhogi, 8-9 pm.
4 Anonymous liner-notes to Amir Khan: Great Master, Great Music,

EMI EALP 2765, 1976.
5 Excerpt, Music from Pakistan: Nazakat and Salamat Ali Khan, EMI
EALP 308, 1964. A line of vocal melody is represented on two staffs,
comprising one system. The upper of these shows the rhythmic cycle
in large divisions: in this case, the tala is a medium-slow Jhnmra of 14
beats, taking up two systems with each beat marked by a half-bar.
The corresponding passage in Abhogl by Amir Khan is in the 10-beat
cycle Jhaptal of medium tempo, all on one system with a dotted
barline showing the 5 plus 5 subdivision. In the Kedar transcription,
which is in Amir Khansahab's famously slow Jhumra, the systems are
in groups which alternate between 3 and 4 beats. Passages of bistar
are separated in all examples by returns to the mukhra, which
consists of the first few notes of the composed khyal. I omit these
returns in the transcription, since they do not figure in the
phenomenon under examination; for the same reason, the singing-text

does not appear. Since a vocal performance is expected to float over
the slow tala beats given by the tabla drums, rhythmic values for the
singing are self-relating approximations placed with enough precision
to show how many cycles are taken for each improvisatory statement
before a return to the composed mukhra. Notes without flags are
relatively quick, and single notes in parentheses and tied sixteenths
are respectively quicker and quickest, serving as ornaments to slower
values. On the lower staff are written the prime Indian solf6ge
pitches, or area of FOCUS, upon which each phrase concentrates.
Solfege pitches of secondary importance are in parentheses.
6 Personal communication, Kamal Banerjee (a senior disciple of Amir

Khan), 1967.
7 Recording courtesy Vijay Kichlu, Sangeet Research Academy,

Calcutta.
8 I first heard this asserted by the singer Malabika Kanan (personal

communication: Calcutta, 1986).
9 In the chapter "Men of Few Notes: Miles Davis and Amir Khan,"
from A Tune Beyond Us, Yet Ourselves: On Transcultural Hearing
(Ph.D. Thesis, Wesleyan University: 1985), I pursue this parallel in
aesthetic viewpoint.
Ross: Amir Khan 109
References Cited
Bhatkhande, V.N.
1956 Hindustani Sangit-Paddhati (Hindi translation)
(Marathi originally publ. 1910) Bombay: Hathra
Jairazbhoy, Nazir
1961 "Swaraprastara in North Indian Classical Music,"
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African
Studies, Vol. XXIV, Part 2, University of London.
Thakur, Omkarnath
1954-62 Sangitanjali (I-IV), Banaras (Vol. II, publ. 1938
Nettl, Bruno
1974 "Thoughts On Improvisation: A Comparative
Approach," The Musical Quarterly 60:1.
Neuman, Daniel
1980 The Life of Music in North India: The Organization
of an Artistic Tradition. Detroit: Wayne State
University Press.
Powers, Harold S.
1976 "The Structure of Musical Meaning: A View from
Banaras," Perspectives of New Music 14:2/15: 1.
1980 "Language Models and Musical Analysis,"

Ethnomusicology 24:1.
1983 "North Indian Ragas." Graduate seminar, Wesley

University.
Wade, B.C.
1984 Khyal: Creativity within North India's Classical
Music Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Mirkhand and Amir Khan

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Forgotten Patterns: "Mirkhand" and Amir Khan

Author(s): Thomas W. Ross

FORGOTTEN PATTERNS: MIRKHAND AND AMIR KHAN

The influence of the late Ustad Amir Khan on India's classical

Those who have had the fortune of hearing Khansahab'sI

How does he achieve this? His use of majestically lengthened

The history, chief musical devices, and gharana styles of khyal

A two-hour khyal recital might consist of two major ragas,

akin to the free-rhythm al9p) showcases the singer's learning and

Amir Khan's vocalism was marked by classical

By "architectonics" one first understands the structure

Perhaps the prime generator of such note-patterns is a raga's

12b346 1-1 64b32 1

A slightly expanded chalan ("way of moving") might be

Re, the second degree, can be omitted in the ascent: 1

The latter are the primary givens which honor the ra

4~Attkait- S4altro -d b i &i __

_____ -- - +-+7 7 -tt~-

The range covered in this excerpt, lasting a minute and a half,

Nazakat Khan tends to sing short sustained-note phrases

divided by mukh.ris (a fragment of the composition's beginning used as

The slow oscillation on the third degree, the emphasis on 4 and

The phrases are in pairs which end in successively lower no

243 354 465 576 617 72

342 453 564 675 716 127

432 543 654 765 176 17

2134 2143 3142 3241

1324 1423 1432 2431

3124 4123 4132 4231

2314 2413 3412 3421

3214 4213 4312 4321

The exercise then applies the

3245 3254 4253 4352

2435 2534 2543 3542

4235 5234 5243 5342

3425 3524 4523 4532

4325 5324 4523 5432

One would then put the degrees 3 4 5 6 through the same

Besides having its own elegant rationality, the organization of

However, the student receives the caveat6 that rmfrkhand are

of which 2 1 b3 4 and b3 2 1 4 are viable phrases in Abhog'i. Phr

If the procedure is applied to a less circumscribed arr

Thus mirkhand can seldom be directly quoted: the patterns

,.,LlO~~~eo " " -'--- -

r ---- ;::-7 - ___

---jill---- 'i!7-# -''"r

On the "FOCUS" staff of the transcription, showing t

structural tones of each passage, notice that in each of the

Subtle qualities such as the sonority of Khansahab's voice and

Many phrases from the biston a passage appear no to have their

origins in b3-4-~ and 4-~-i m'Irkhancd patterns, as tabulated below:

mlrkhand pattern bistar phrase

b3 4 6 Al, A2, A4, BL, C3, C4

1 4 C2, C3, DI, D2

In untrammeled arrays such as the b3-4-6-1 region of Abhogi,

Ambivalence stemming from the use of both fourth degree

Extensive sliding also occurs from 4 to 2, as long as one do

.... _ ____. __,u _-__+- -- _+_+ :u_ _-_ _ _ _

t_. .-.. .. '_ _ _ l_ _ __ ) _ _ __... ..... ..._

_ U x7 H 7---4y 323- ---4?-i - -_____________

. - ' " " 3-Lo

The rather straightforward canon for AbhogT, as we have

When each gesture is given a Roman numeral (as seen i

Statement Phrase Gesture-Sequence

.... _ __. ,u _-__+- -- _+_+ :u_ _-_ _ _ _

- I- j -iiZ!X -_I_- -

_ -?--- ________ -----