Marwa Blues

Rashid Khan, a preeminent Hindustani classical vocalist of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, passed away on Jan 9th. He was only 55 years old. The man was incredibly good. Here’s a traditional song sung by Rashid Khan and Saurabh Kadgaonkar. It’s from the movie “Me Vasantrao“. Lots of great music there. I note that they included a harp in the composition — unusual in Hindustani classical.

Although I couldn’t identify ragas to save my life, I absolutely love Hindustani classical vocals. That was raga Marwa. That reminded me of George Harrison’s Marwa Blues. Listen to George’s mastery of the slide guitar. I hear that the song is one of Paul McCartney’s favorites.

This post is a quick tribute to Ustad Rashid Khan. So let’s listen to a Krishna bhajan “Tore bina mohe chain nahi brij kay nandala” in raga Kirwani:

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Image at the top of the post: I met up with my Finnish friends from Helsinki in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago. We did a walking tour of some murals around the Mission district. Click on the image to see the details of the mural. Notice that it’s mostly on a 14-foot garage door. This is one of the dozens of pictures I took that day.