Best of Ustad Rais Khan

Recorded in London in August 1985, this concert recording features "Ek Prakar ki Kauns" (a type of Kauns) and in so titling it, Rais Khan acknowledges an age-old tradition of inter-gharana rivalry and how gharanas jealously guarded their secrets. "Ek prakar ki Kauns," he explained to Folk Roots, "it has a name, a real name. What the real name is we know, I know, but other people don't know it. In those days there used to be a challenge to learn a particular raga one has never heard before." Musical theft then was the equivalent of industrial espionage in industrialised societies now. A gorgeous performance from one of the finest living sitar players. Manik Rao Popatkar accompanies on tabla.