North India / O.S.T.

The music of Satyajit Ray's cinematic masterpiece (Jalsaghar, 1958), by Ustad Vilayat Khan (sitar) with the participation of Imrat Khan (sitar, surbahar), Bismillah Khan (shehnai), Akhtari Bai [aka Begum Akhtar] -thumri singing, Salamat Ali Khan -khyal singing etc. 'After the box office failure of my second film Aparajito ("The Unvanquished"), I was a little unsure as to what kind of film I should make next. After some deliberation, I decided on a film featuring singing and dancing -a formula which usually worked with the Indian audience. I chose a popular short story -Jalsaghar- about the last days of a music loving feudal baron. I was fortunate to be able to use some of the leading singers and instrumentalists for the film. As composer, I chose the great sitar virtuoso Vilayat Khan who was most ably assisted by his younger brother Imrat Khan, also a sitar virtuoso. The two of them provided superb solos and duets for the background music for which -with the exception of violins- only Indian instruments were used. All the background score is raga-based.' (Satyajit Ray)