rais
about
rais khan
Ustad Rais Khan is renowned professional percussionist and folk musician based out of Rajasthan. Rais is one of the world’s foremost performers on the morchang, or the jaw harp, a folk instrument from Western India. Using his voice, breath, mouth, and the morchang, he creates unique rhythms, sounds, and sonic patterns. Besides morchang, Rais Khan also plays the khartaal (Rajasthani castanets), bhapang, and beatboxes. He has shared the stage and recorded with artists such as Bombino, Vieux Farka Toure, Mumford & Sons, The Gypsy Allstars, Rupa, and the April Fishes, and has been featured on MTV Coke Studios alongside artists such as A.R. Rahman, Clinton Cerejo and Amit Trivedi.
Bio
Biography
Ustad Rais Khan hails from the Manganiyar Sufi Muslim community of Northwest Rajasthan, which has been historically tied to the performance of music and keeping of history. His music reflects a blending of gypsy folk traditions with ancient traditional Sufi songs, put through the lens of a modern soundscape incorporating beatboxing, electronica, and world music.
Rais is part of a generation of players that have taken folk instruments such as the Morchang, with a traditionally limited repertoire, and transformed them into powerful musical forces by integrating elements of classical Indian percussion, world music, and electronica amongst a variety of influences. Although a skilled instrumentalist, Rais is also hailed as an “MC”, getting the crowd to be a part of the performance.
Rais is comfortable as a performer and a teacher, and has shared his style with many students that continue to evolve the sound. He has also taken the stage alongside a variety of musical styles, continuing to evolve and create a sound with its origins in folk traditions, creating a new path for the music.
morchang
About the Morchang
The Morchang is a traditional folk instrument of Northwest Rajasthan, originally use as a sheperd’s instrument or to play simple folk tunes. It consist of an iron frame bent into a circular shape, with a plucked vibrating piece in the middle. Melodically the instrument can play the notes of the harmonic scale (overtones). It can also be used percussively, imitating the sounds of traditional Indian percussion.
In the latter half of the 20th century Rais Khan and other musicians evolved the sound of the instrument to produce complex rhythmic patterns and to accompany both Indian and Western music. Rais Khan has shared this style of play with a number of students, and will be releasing educational material on the instrument to further expand its sonic palette.
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