I last spoke to Ramashreya Jha “Ramrang” on Dec 28, 2008, when I called him from California. He was on his hospital bed in Kolkota, bracing for cardiac surgery scheduled a few hours later. He did not come out of it alive, and passed away on the morning of Jan 1, 2009, India time….
by Rajan P. Parrikar First published on SAWF on April 30, 2001 Part 1 | Part 2 Namashkar. The saga of raga continues. The primary focus in this series is the structure and contemporary practice of ragas. Their fons et origo, the associated lore and legend, insofar as we can say something…
by Rajan P. Parrikar First published on SAWF on April 30, 2001 Part 1 | Part 2 The varieties of Nat on this page fall to two lots. They are either perturbations about the parent raganga or joint projects with other ragas, i.e. hybrids. Apropos of the perturbed variants, typically a special tonal cluster is injected…
by Rajan P. Parrikar First published on SAWF on July 10, 2000 Namashkar. The old melodies assembled under the Bilawal rubric come on the heels of the Todis and the Bhairavs in the matutinal parade of ragas. The Bilawals bring to mind those marvellous, hot breakfasts in India, whipped up by the ladies: soft idlis…
by Rajan P. Parrikar First published on SAWF on November 4, 2002 Namashkar and Shubh Deepavali (2002) to All. In this installment of Short Takes, we train our attention on Raga Bihag. After the customary inspection of the raga’s internals, we shall set upon a lavish spread from both the Hindustani and Carnatic paddhatis. We…
