Think from head ,sing from heart .

Ustad Amir Khan always stressed upon being a thinking musician. He was of the opinion that a musician must constantly reflect upon, and evaluate the wide world of possibilities through which he has to articulate his musical feelings. However he was not in favour of purely intellectual and mechanical development of Raagas. He shunned layakari of the pronounced nature that we see today. He said “Mere Gane mein Laykari bilkool Na ke barabar hoti hai .” One can do Layakaris, alankaras with amazing mathematical abilities but in what way can it convey the feelings embedded in the raga? Is it not merely a play of medium? Is it not acrobatics for which the best place to be is in a circus and not in a Baithak? In his performances and melody development, Khan Saheb went much beyond merely intellectual calculations. He was a master of “Merukhanda Paddati” but his aalaps never sound like permutations and combinations of 4, 5 or 6 swaras. They arrive loaded with his emotional intensity and ferver and transport us to a different world. He carefully crafted his music around expression of feelings, variations and phrases all so profound and heart wrenching. That is the pure, classy and elitist form of art music .And we are intelligent enough to understand its calibre and its effect.

Khan Saheb has left behind a huge collection of recordings that we can access any time. But as musicians and students, where do we look for a living maestro who can help us understand the process of “Rasotpatti”, the extremely specialised art of conducting ones music with the sole purpose of manifesting “Rasas” Musical moods?
I’m sharing a clip of Bageshree sung by Sanhitaji. This is not for a side listening. I urge you to study it with full attention. If we focus deep on each phrase that is developed, we realize how amazing is it to feel breath and experience Bageshree.