ASADULLAH KAUKUB KHAN | Raga Bhairavin (1912)

Prof. A.K. Kaukub - banjo
Tabla: Abani Babu

The flip side of this disc has Raag Zila and is available on the "Ten Iconic Raga Miniatures" album on bandcamp exclusively: https://matyasitar.bandcamp.com/album...

Kaukub Khan and his famed brother Keramatullah Khan were the sons and successors of Niyamatullah Khan (1809-1901) - the man credited with modifying the Afghan rubab into the sarod.
Asadullah Kaukub Khan (1852-1915) was known as Professor Kaukab and taught music at a private school in Calcutta. He is believed to have introduced the sarod to Bengal. Both brothers went to Paris with Motilal Nehru. They were the first Indian musicians to visit France (Umar Khan 1978). Kaukab Khans son Waliullah Khan (see our previous upload) was the first musician of the extended family to take up sitar instead of sarod or rubab and was among the leading sitarists of the first half of the 20th century.
The Kaukub-Banjo, an instrument that Kaukub Khan was famous for besides sarod, is seen in this video on a photograph as played by Mukhtiar Ahmad Khan (grandson of Keramatullah Khan). Courtesy Ghulfam Ahmad Khan.
The story of the Kaukub Banjo is told in this video:    • SOUNDTRACKS EP 03 | Universal Mobiliz...  

78rpm disc: HMV P.1443 and pictures from the collection of Irfan MD Khan.
Picture of Mukhtiar Ahmad with the Kaukub-banjo courtesy Ghulfam Ahmad was taken from the book "Lineage of Loss" by Max Katz.

Transfer, sound processing and video edits: Matyas Wolter
Thanks to Pete Yelding