Raga Nand, known variously as Anandi, Anandi Kalyan, Nand Kalyan, has attained considerable popularity in recent times. Although the provenance of the raga is not easy to pin down, it is thought to have been conceived in the early 1900s. For a long time time the vilambit khayal – E bare saiyyan tohe sakala bana dhoondun – composed by Mehboob Khan “Daraspiya” (d. 1921) held sway. The distinguished Daraspiya was a student of Tanras Khan and the father-in-law of ‘Aftab-e-Mausiqui’ Faiyyaz Khan.

Amruta Kulkarni