An appreciation of the book "50 Maestros, 50 Recordings" by Aman Ali Khan & Ayaan Ali Khan, Published by Harper Collins India

This book is a dream come true for all collectors of Indian Classical Music recordings. The authors, sons of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, the Sarod Maestro, have narrated many delightful anecdotes of the 50 Maestros, having access to most of them as fellow musicians. Also they have noted many subtle points which can be noticed only by professional musicians, like the strange use of Shuddha Nishad (which does not figure in the Raga) in the tanpura in Ustad Amir Khan's recording of Raga Darbari Kanada.

Whereas there are many books listing the great recordings of Western Classical Music,  there were not many comparable books on Indian Classical Music, excepting Chetan Karnani's "Listening to Hindusthani Music", "Nad" by Sandeep Bagchee & "A Rasika's journey through Hindusthani Music" by Rajiv Nair, where some recordings are mentioned "en passant", as it were. This book fills the gap, with the MP-3 CD supplied with the book giving many of the tracks mentioned in the book, being like the icing on the cake. As the authors are Hindusthani musicians, it is probably natural that only a handful of Karnatic musicians get a mention.