Raga Darbari Kanada & Maihar Gharana

This raga is known as "The King of Ragas" & also as "The Raga of Kings", because it was performed at first only in the royal courts.

Be that as it may, while Ustad Vilayat Khan & Ustad Amjad Ali Khan have devoted a full LP to their studio recordings of this majestic raga, the musicians of the Maihar Gharana have been coy in either commercially recording this raga or playing it in western countries. There is only a six minute studio record by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. 

In his earlier days, Pandit Ravi Shankar had performed it in India in concerts but never  made a studio recording. But a similar raga with the same notes, Kaunsi Kanada has been recorded by him many times, including in the Grammy winning "Full Circle."

One possible reason for this may be found in Swapan Kumar Bondyopadhayay's "Annapurna Devi-An Authorised Biography." In it the author quotes Daniel C. Bradley, a student of Annapurna saying that she said her father taught it to only Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar & herself. She taught it to no one, even Nikhil Banerjee, because he was touring the west. She offered to teach it to Bradley conditionally if he promised never to play it in the West, because they won't understand it. She later told Basant Kabra, a Sarodist student of hers, to play it only before a discerning audience & when his mind was fully tuned. Also to play Komal Gandhar & Komal Dhaivat always in "andolit" (vibrato) fashion, even in the fast taans. As it may not be technically feasible, to avoid fast taans altogether in this Raga.

This may be the possible reason for the lack of studio recordings of this Raga by Maihar musicians, as once a record is released, all control over where & how it is played, gets out of control.