Mirzapur, famous for its kajris (a semi-classical song form not a food!), is a dusty wild-Westish town around a two-hour drive from Banaras. Maqbool Khan is a rough-and-ready sarangi player whom I met on the 24th of April, 1997 sitting in the sun on a charpai (rope bed) with the goats peering out from under the bed and nudging his feet with their heads. He wasn't much in practice, but he managed to tune his sarangi and play a number of rags and semi-classical pieces for me, first outside on the charpai then inside his house, impressing me with his exuberant rustic sarangi style. After a couple of hours, he packed up and took me to a kotaa where I heard a wonderful performance of Mirzapuri kajris by the tavayaf Rani Singh with Maqbool Khan's eccentric but enjoyable sarangi accompaniment.
Hear him here playing with Rani Singh in a proper mujhra performance of a kajri. More of this performance can be heard via the tavayaf page on this site.
Now let's enjoy Maqbul Khan on his own, first outside with the goats and numerous neighbours and relatives milling about. The first video encompasses our initial meeting in the yard. He tuned his sarangi and tried to lecture me about music:
Then he played Pilu in a passionate thumri style:
Followed by rag Madhuvanti:
Then a chaiti, a song type sung in Springtime. After this we talked about his family's musical history.
Then we moved into his house (or was it his nephew's house). He played rag Bhimpalasi:
The next video begins with my singing a Mirzapuri Kajri which I had learned many years earlier in Banaras. But Maqbul Khan played Desh in thumri style. He did however drift into the kajri I had requested after four or five minutes:
The final piece was a thumri in Manj Khamaj. Then Maqbul Khan's nephew joined him, adding a very loud harmonium to the mix. The nephew then sang some light songs with Maqbul Khan's accompaniment:
