| Told by | Irfan Muhammad Khan |
| Obtained by | Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay and Troilee Dutta |
| Date | 27 September, 2016 |
| Place | Residence of Prof. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay, 3/1/1D, Padmapukur Road, Kolkata 700092 |
| On Irfan Muhammad Khan | Irfan Md. Khan is an established Sarod Player. The scion of Lucknow Shahjanpur Gharana Sarod player. He represents the Lucknow-Shahjahanpur Gharana which has produced eminent Sarod players like Ustad Enayet Khan (1790-1883), Ustad Asadullah Khan Kaukab (1852-1919), Ustad Karamatuilah Khan (1848-1933), Prof. Sakhawat Hussain Khan (1875-1955), also his illustrious father Ustad Umar Khan (1916-1982) and his uncle Ustad Ilyas Khan (1924-1989) the famous Sitar player of Lucknow. |
| Key-words | Queen Victoria, coronation, silver jubilee, fast gat, flat plate, Yusuf Ali Khan, sitariya, Lucknow, Motilal Nehru, 1887, saw blade |
| Language | Hindi [also include some English and Bengali sentences.] |
Irfan Muhammad Khan speaks:
Paraphrase:
It was Queen Victoria’s silver jubilee coronation in 1887. Ustad Enayat khan was invited to perform on that occasion. In old days only Drut Gats could be performed in Sarod because of their structural build up. Even on those days, in Sarod, there used to be flat plate instead of round metal plate which attached by placing a normal saw blade. Therefore those were very difficult to open up. Ustad Enayat Khan was famous for his fast fingering specially his right hand work was fabulous. The listeners were so enchanted with the enigmatic performance that they could not believe that a person could perform in such a fast speed. They thought that the Sarod might have some mechanism which helped the player to play faster. So they asked for a screw driver in order to open up the plate. But as soon as they open the plate they found hollow inside. Then they could feel the aesthetic rendition of the Sarod maestro.
In those days some eminent musicians were also very proficient instrument makers. Ustad Yusuf khan of Lucknow, the Sitar maestro, used to shape his own instrument. His father Ustad Bahadur Hussain Khan, hugely known as Bhondu Ustad, was an owner of instrument manufacturing shop. Yusuf Khan was so perfectionist that if he noticed any musical note (Swara) sound slightly closed, he started Jawari even before the programme. For this he used to get scold from Shakhawat Hussain Khan, the Grandfather of Irfan Muhammad Khan, speaker of this beautiful story.
Paraphrased by: Dr. Suranjita Paul
Data processed at SAP-DRS Lab, Department of Instrumental Music, Rabindra Bharati University.