WALIULLAH KHAN | Raga Pilu

Prof. Waliullah Khan - sitar
Tabla accompanist and date of recording unknown.

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

Waliullah Khan Saheb (1890-1951) was the son of Asadullah Kaukub Khan and the first of the extended family to take up sitar instead of the hereditary instruments sarod or rubab. He became a great and sought after virtuoso performer and some of his programs were advertised as "sitar with one hand", probably in regard of his powerful meend- and krintan-zamzama-laden left hand. The only picture of him with sitar is from his final years and can be seen towards the end of this clip. The boy to his left is his son Noorullah Khan Saheb (1938-2004) who was a fantastic sitar player in his own right. Unfortunatly no recording of him exist in our archive. Noorullah Khan Saheb speaks about his ancestry and sings the famous thumri "Babul Mora"in this clip:
   • Noorullah Khan speaks about Wajid Ali...  
and recites a Marsia here:
   • Noorullah Khan recites 'Shor Hai Shya...  


A text about Waliullah Khan from a 1941 article in "The Indian Listener":
"Wali Ulla's radio broadcasts are often aired from AIR Dhaka. People listen to these broadcasts with a lot of interest. He belongs to a Gharana whose musicians have tradiotionally been recognized as great instrumentalists. Wali Ulla's grandfather Niamatulla Khan was a pupil of Ustad Basat Khan (a desecendant of Tansen). Niamutullah Khan was a Durbar musician at the court of Wajid Ali Shah (Awadh) for many years after which he taught the Maharaja of Nepal music for a few years. Wali Ullah was born in Luknow in 1890. His father Asadulla Kaukub Khan was an expert at playing stringed instruments and was specifically known for playing the Banjo and Sarod instruments. He formally established himself in Calcutta and enriched the musical lives of many students. Wali Ulla learnt Sitar from his father for 17 years, and after his passing in 1915 became a disciple of his uncle Karamatullah Khan, an expert at the Sarod. An expert-knowledge at music was a gift passed on to Wali Ulla by his forefathers. Additionally he benefited from the tutelage of experienced Gurus. He has gained a lot of fame by playing Sitar in many musical conferences and festivals. For a few years, he was a court musician of the Nawab of Comilla (Bengal) and taught a number of students there. He returned to Delhi later, where he stayed for 8 years and then went back to Bangal. Since the past 3 years he has been staying in Dhaka. His Sitar programs have a special place among AIR Dhaka programs."
Translation by Kiran Naiga


78rpm disc: Hindusthan Record_H.170 from the collection of Irfan MD Khan
Transfer, sound processing and video edits: Matyas Wolter
Thanks to Kiran Naiga for translation and some of the photographs.