Mohammed Jaffer Khan was, in the 1990s, an accompanist at the Kathak Kendra in New Delhi. I hear that he passed away very young. He had learned from the Kirana gharana master Hafizullah Khan who was the son of the great vocalist Abdul Wahid Khan. He lived in the Darya Ganj neighbourhood of Old Delhi where I visited him on on 25 May, 1997. He had a very beautifully clean surila style inherited from his ustad. We spent a very hot but very pleasant afternoon together discussing all things sarangi, and Mohammed Jaffer played several rags, accompanied by a tabla player. The electric svarpati was a bit overpowering, but that's life. At the end of our sitting his 12-year-old relative did a short tabla solo.
Mohammed Jaffer began with rag Bat Bhairav:
Followed by an unusual ang of Pilu:
Then came rag Basant, a little late for the Indian Springtime.
Then some conversation and demonstrating via singing:
Next the rare rag Nauhar Todi and more talk:
Then Mohammed Jaffer's young relative was prevailed upon to give a demonstration of tabla accompanied by Mohammed Jaffer's sarangi.
We finished withsome peaceful alap in rag Yaman: (coming!)
