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 May 29, 2000 Namashkar. Our exploration of Hindustani ragaspace continues with a coup d’oeil of the hoary Raga Bhairav and members of its extended family. Raga Bhairav Bhairav connotes three entities: raga, raganga, and that. All the three converge only in the flagship Raga Bhairav….
by Rajan P. Parrikar First published on SAWF on August 5, 2002 Namashkar. The range of expression manifest on the world’s musical canvas reveals a full panoply of underlying assumptions and values. At the heart of India’s Art music lies the notion of Swara, a conception more fundamental than Raga and a prerequisite to its…
