Raga Khammaj Ali Akbar Khan

Ali Akbar Khan's 1970 recording of Raga Khammaj, accompanied by Mahapurush Misra on tabla, has that rare quality of seeming simultaneously magisterial and mischievous. Khan doesn't so much play the sarod as release Khammaj into the room, where it proceeds to tiptoe, pirouette and occasionally break into a delighted run.

The opening passages demonstrate Khan's astonishing command of touch. Notes arrive rounded and luminous, yet never over-polished. The sarod retains its metallic grain, its capacity for both tenderness and sudden authority.

Khammaj's characteristic sweetness is present. But Khan keeps sentimentality firmly outside the door.


As the performance gathers momentum, Misra becomes more co-conspirator. His tabla provides buoyancy without crowding the sarod, answering Khan's phrases, tightening the pulse and helping transform contemplation into exhilaration. Khan, meanwhile, darts across the rhythmic architecture with breathtaking assurance. There are passages that seem almost to laugh.

What remains afterwards is the sensation of having been briefly caught inside a whirl of joy: music on tiptoe, perfectly balanced, before suddenly taking flight.