a. There has been a firm belief that musicians were expected to play only dhrupad ang on veena and surbahar.
b. However, on listening to several recordings of Imdad Khansaheb and Enayet Khansaheb on surbahar, and also listening to the radio recitals of veena of Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan and Ustad Asad Ali Khan, it is noted that, they were not involved with pure dhrupad ang – but had a flavour of khayal ang in their recitals.
c. On enquiring with Ustad Vilayat Khan, whether it is appropriate to play surbahar and veena etc. partially based on khayal ang, his reply was that, khayal ang on surbahar was quite distinct as compared to the khayal ang adopted for sitar recitals. In one of his archival recordings at the NCPA, he has demonstrated the difference.
d. It is therefore surmised that khayal ang on surbahar and veena could be based on the following tenets:
i. Executing phrases rather than single note development (as in dhrupad)
ii. Swift movement between two or more notes should be executed with a certain amount of lehek and not with a jerk– as in khayal.
iii. Murkis played on sitar should be avoided. However, murkis could be executed in much slower meend like movements. Jhapkis should be completely avoided.
iv. Only one kan (as in dhrupad) is permitted – though later we find regular murkis being practiced but as mentioned above, only in meend like slow movement and not sharp movement as in regular murkis.