Ustad Amir Khan

"Amir Khan's music combined the massive dignity of the dhrupad with the ornate vividness of khayal." --- Susheela Mishra in the "Great masters of music" series.

Ustad Amir Khan (1912-1974) was among the greatest and most influential Hindustani vocalists of the twentieth century. To quote Ustad Faiyaz Khan (from Susheela Mishra's article ), "One must play with a raga with a lover's passion. One must learn to love it to pay court to it, like a cavalier, and then alone can a musician tell the story of joy and grief; of laughter and tears. Music must please and move." This is an apt description of Ustad Amir Khan's music. Amir Khansahib had an intellectual's approach to Hindustani music while always managing to bring out, with great sensitivity, all the emotive aspects of a raag.

As is well known to insiders, much of the recordings of great Hindustani musicians languishes in private collections. In recent years, thanks to the internet and the generous efforts of people at sawf.org and sarangi.info and numerous others on websites like esnips.com, a large number of recordings are now freely available online to music lovers. Unfortunately, these collections are often hard to locate. I have attempted here to put together a list of recordings by Ustad Amir Khan along with links to recordings online. This is just a beginning; I hope that, over time, and with the help of other fans of Amir Khansahib, I will be able to make this a more comprehensive list so that these gems are easily accessible to all music lovers who have access to the internet. Many links appear and disappear in time; I would appreciate information regarding broken links and any new links that may have appeared, thanks.

Musicography with links to online resources

  1. Abhogi "Charan dhar aayo" on esnips.com
  2. Adana on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  3. Adana "Muhammad Shah Rangile" (78 RPM) on youtube
  4. Ahir Bhairav: Vilambit khayal "Jago re bande" on esnips.com
  5. Ahir Bhairav: Chhota khayal: "Piya para been parama sukha chatura" on LP/tape recording titled Surmanjari. AK's composition.
  6. Ahir Bhairav: Chhota khayal
  7. Aiman (Yaman): on sarangi.info
  8. Aiman (Yaman) kalyan: on sarangi.info
  9. Amirkhani Kauns: Madhya laya "Paar karo "
  10. Asavari Todi on on Rajan Parrikar's site
  11. Bageshree: "Bahu guna kamna" on Rajan Parrikar's site and on LP/tape recording
  12. Bageshree: "Kaise kate rajni" (from the film Kshudito Pashan, with Protima Banerjee) on Rajan Parrikar's site on sawf.org
  13. Bageshrikanada: "Gore gore mukh par" on sarangi.info
  14. Bahar on esnips.com
  15. Bairagi: "Man sumarata" on sarangi.info
  16. Barwa on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  17. Basant Bahar: "Parana koyaliya kuka rahi" on sarangi.info
  18. Basant Mukhari: "Prabhu daata" on musicindiaonline.com and on esnips.com
  19. Bhatiyar: "Nisa dinana" on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  20. Bhatiyar: "Barani na jaye" on sarangi.info
  21. Bhimpalasi
  22. Bihag "Kaise sukh" on musicindiaonline.com
  23. Bilaskhani Todi: on sarangi.info
  24. Chandni Kedar: vilambit `Eri tu dhana dhana'.
  25. Chandrakaunsi: tarana on Patrick Moutal's website
  26. Charukeshi: "Laaj rakho tum more" on sarangi.info . AK's composition.
  27. Darbari: "Mori aalee, jab se bhanaka paree" (piya ke awan ki) on sarangi.info
  28. Darbari: "Tumari jay jay karta"
  29. Darbari: chhota khayal "Yare man biya biya" (Persian). AK's composition.
  30. Deshi with D.V. Paluskar: "Aaj gawat man mero" on youtube
  31. Deshkar
  32. Gaud Malhar (short live recording) on youtube
  33. Gurjari Todi
  34. Hansdhwani vilambit: "Jaya mate" on sarangi.info
  35. Hansdhwani dhrut: tarana on sarangi.info
  36. Harikauns on Rajan Parrikar's website on SAWF
  37. Hemkalyan on esnips.com
  38. Hemkalyan on esnips.com
  39. Hindol Basant
  40. Jaijaiwanti on esnips.com
  41. Jog: "O balma" on esnips.com
  42. Jog: tarana on esnips.com
  43. Jog: tarana (in Persian). AK's composition.
  44. Kafi Kanada
  45. Kalashree or Janasanmohini(?): "Kaun jatan pati(?)" on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  46. Kaushikanada vilambit on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  47. Kaushikanada dhrut on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  48. Khamaj thumri "Piya ke aavan ke" on sarangi.info
  49. Komal Rishabh Asawari "Jagat Sapna" on esnips.com . AK's composition.
  50. Lalit Vilambit khayal: "Tadapath hoon jaise" on sarangi.info
  51. Lalit Chhota khayal: "Tadapath hoon jaise" (second version) on LP/tape recording
  52. Lalit ("Jogiya mere ghar") in opening credits of the film "Raagini" on youtube
  53. Lalit ("Jogiya mere ghar") with a Farsee anthara added (perhaps his own composition) on youtube
  54. Lalit khayal: vilambit "Charan kaise aavu", dhrut: "Jogiya mere ghar aaye" on sarangi.info
  55. Madhukauns "Bairanbhai Rain" youtube and on esnips.com
  56. Malkauns: "Jinke mana raam" on sarangi.info
  57. Malkauns: tarana on youtube (with video)
  58. Malkauns: "Jinke mana raam" mehfil recording on sarangi.info
  59. Malkauns: "Lagi la manwa" live recording. AK's composition.
  60. Marukalyan on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  61. Marwa Vilambit khayal "Jag bawra" on LP/tape recording and (poor quality recording) from a concert in Pune on esnips.com AK's composition (?)
  62. Marwa Vilambit khayal "Piya more anat des" on sarangi.info
  63. Marwa chhota khayal "Guru bin gyan na pave". AK's composition
  64. Megh "Barkha ritu aaye" on sarangi.info
  65. Megh tarana on esnips.com
  66. Miyanmalhar "Karim naam" on esnips.com
  67. Miyanmalhar and Ramdasimalhar "Karim naam" on sarangi.info
  68. Multani vilambit "Jaako mana Allah" on sarangi.info
  69. Multani dhrut "Balma mohe tumso laagali preet" on sarangi.info
  70. Multani "Daya karo hey girdhara gopala" bhajan from the film Shabaab on R. Parrikar's website on sawf.org
  71. Nand on esnips (part 1) on esnips (part 2)
  72. Nat Bhairav: "Sumaranko" on esnips
  73. Priyakalyan (or Ramkalyan) on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music . AK's composition. He also created the raag.
  74. Priyakalyan "Sarmad gham-e ishq" Persian composition. (clip from an interview) AK's composition. He also created the raag.
  75. Puriya Dhanashree "Tori jay jay karta" on esnips.com
  76. Raagmala with Bismillah Khan Sur Malhar, Bageshree, Chandrakauns, Ramkali, Bhatiyar, Desh. From the film "Goonj Uthi Shehnai". on youtube.
  77. Rageshree on youtube (with video) and Patrick Moutal's online collection (video) and on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  78. Ramdasi Malhar
  79. Ramkali on esnips.com on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  80. Shahana on youtube
  81. Shree "Hari ke charana kamala nisadina sumarana re" on sarangi.info and on youtube
  82. Shuddh Kalyan "Mandara Bajo Re"
  83. Shuddh Kalyan tarana on esnips.com
  84. Shuddh Sarang on sarangi.info
  85. Suhakanada on The Vijaya Parrikar Library of Indian Classical Music
  86. Suha sughrai
  87. Todi vilambit and madhya laya ("Man ki panchi") on esnips.com AK's composition for madhya laya.
  88. Todi vilambit ("Ja re ja pathikava" (Sadarang)) and madhya laya ("Man ki panchi") on esnips.com AK's composition for madhya laya.
  89. Todi tarana (short recording) on esnips.com
  90. Yaman vilambit jhoomra on youtube (Kishori Ray's links) , continuation: also on youtube (Kishori Ray's links)
  91. Yaman kalyan "Kajra kaise daroon". AK's composition (?)
If you know of others, please let me know the name along with (if possible) information about where to find them. Many of the bandish titles above are probably misspelled, especially the ones with question marks, since I have relied almost entirely on guess work. If you notice any mistakes on this page, please inform me, thanks.

My email address: mharan@stat.psu.edu

Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Daibashish Gangopadhyay for corrections and additions to the above list. Bhuvanesh Bhatt also provided corrections.

Several of the recordings listed above are available online at these wonderful repositories of Hindustani music: A short Films Division documentary on Ustad Amir Khan can be found here.

Perhaps the best website devoted to Ustad Amir Khan is one put together by John Campana and others at the University of Toronto: Amir Khan memorial website.

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