In the Hindu pantheon of gods, Bhairav is another name for Lord Shiva – the temperamental deity of unprecedented destruction. Shiva is an embodiment of spunk, reserve, might and dramatic fortitude. In addition to these traits, the raga Bhairav is anchored upon undercurrents of desolation and deep...
Ramkali is an early morning raga, often associated with Sikh devotional cultures. Many Sikh saints have set 'shabads' (spiritual verses) to the tune of this raga.
In the sprawling premises of the Bawali Rajbari, the 265-year-old heritage mansion-palace situated 35 kilometres outside of Kolkat...
Bharatnatyam exponent and musicologist Vidya Bhavani Suresh describes Raga Karnataka Suddha Saveri as one of the rare ragas in Carnatic music. In her book ‘50 Rare Ragas of Carnatic Music- Ragas Down The Memory Lane,’ she has included this raga as “uniquely soulful and haunting that creates a moo...
Born out of the parent scale Kafi, Raag Shahana is an upper-tetra chord dominant raga that draws its haunting strains from Bhimpalasi and Bageshree. The Darbar team filmed Anupama Bhagwat in an isolated outdoor location in Bangalore, India, playing this midnight raga. Bhagwat plays the jod, a sec...
Raag Yaman Kalyan is a combination of Raag Yaman and its parent scale Kalyan. Although shudh Ma is not used in both Raag Yaman and Kalyan thaat, this quintessential combination of Yaman and Kalyan deploys shudh Ma as the vivadi or optional note.
With this minor yet significant conjecture, ther...
Shot in an opulent heritage palace in Bawali located about 35 kilometres outside the periphery of Kolkata, this video seeks to bring the intimate ambience of a ‘baithak’ - a private soiree – to audiences. Till the earlier part of the 20th century, Indian classical music was a key element that con...
Some consider the mridangam to have mythic origins. It is said to have been played during Lord Shiva’s tandav – a dance form that signifies the destruction and creation of the world through nature’s ferocious forces. Indian folklores from the yore mention the mridangam as an accompanying instrume...
A devotional raga in spirit, Raga Nasikabhushani is a ‘vivadi’ or a dissonant melodic scale that has been scantily used in Carnatic compositions. Against the crash of waves and the sound of the tanpura on the expansive beach of Mahabalipuram in southern India, Shashank Subramanyam portrays this r...
Recorded live against the stunning, rugged landscape of Mulshi, Maharashtra, we present to you one of the most melodious voices that has emerged from the Dharwad-Belgaon belt of western coastal India – Ramakant Gaikwad. In this video, Gaikwad brings the delightful blend of Kirana gharana fused wi...
Raag Patdeep comes from the same family as Bhimpalasi and retains its heady melodic appeal. In addition, it draws heavily upon the characteristics of Dhaneshree that imbues it with the intriguing emotions of longing and earnest obeisance.
Omkar Dadarkar demonstrates Raag Patdeep with a traditi...
Raag Bhoop Kalyan is also known as Shuddh Kalyan. Its ascending notes have the same notes as Raag Bhopali and its descending notes are exactly like that of Yaman. In the spectacular and imposing backyard of Bawali Rajbari – a 265-year-old palatial mansion situated 40 kilometres outside of Kolkata...
Budhaditya Mukherjee | Desh
Shot in the early morning environs of the sandstone-carved Tiger Caves in coastal Mahabalipuram, this performance bridges two time-zones of the Hindustani raga system. Todi in the Carnatic system is a murchanakaraka raga which means, it is built in convoluted pathways. This embeds in it, the oppo...
This video was shot early morning at the sandstone-carved Tiger Caves in coastal Tamil Nadu. The crisp sound of the tanpura against the chirping birds breaks the early-morning silence to create a tranquil and meditative aura - a perfect setting for the morning raga Sindhu Bhairavi. K Bharat Sunda...
Kamal Sabri demonstrates the sarangi, a bowed instrument from North India renowned for its ability to capture the expressive flexibility of the human voice.
Kamal Sabri carries his family’s musical tradition forward to a seventh generation. He absorbed the rich Senia sarangi gharana from his fat...
The esraj is a variant of the dilruba with 20 metal frets on a sitar-like neck. With a slightly deeper tone than that of a sarangi, this rare bowed instrument can imitate vocal music beautifully. This short recital in Raag Bhairavi by Arshad Khan was shot in the breathtaking location of Mulshi, M...
Raag Madhuvanti is a creation of the sitar legend, Ustad Vilayat Khan. Comprised of the softer shades of Multani, an afternoon melody, this raga conveys romantic emotions. It was created sometime around the early 1940’s. The word ‘romantic’, however, is a broad canvas of emotions and in case of M...
Set against the sunset over Lake Mulshi in Maharashtra, Pelva Naik sings Raag Maru which is considered as a Raāgputra of Malkauns but opinions differ among scholars. It's not sung much being too similar to Yaman and also Maru Behag being more popular. The notes go- Sa Ga ma (sharp) pa ni sa. Sa ...
Raag Ahir Bhairav | Thaat Bhairav | Samay 6am to 9am
Recorded at Ravenna, Italy
Debasmita Bhattacharya is one of India’s finest young sarod players. She balances a deep knowledge of classical forms with an expansive mindset, pushing the Hindustani tradition into the 21st century without compromi...
Shashank Subramanyam started learning early in life - some say he could recognise all 72 Melakarta scales by the age of two-and-a-half. His first musical immersions came with singing and violin, but he fell in love with the venu bamboo flute as soon as he picked it up, focusing on it from that po...
Mridangam maestro Patri Satish Kumar plays unaccompanied on Mahabalipuram beach in Tamil Nadu, substituting a tanpura for sound of the waves.
Patri Satish Kumar is one of India’s leading mridangam players, known for fine dynamic control and architectural solo phrasings. First inducted into musi...
A special rendering of Raag Gauri and accompanied by Dattatray Bhave (tabla) and Leeladhar Chakradev (harmonium). Bodas is a khayal vocalist, singing in the Gwalior gharana style. His father Narayanrao Bodas was a famous singer and Marathi stage-actor, and passed his love of music onto his son. K...
D Srinivas is one of the finest unplugged carnatic veena exponents in India. He performs a short piece at a farmhouse in Mulshi, India. Renowned for his speed and mathematical approach to Carnatic classical music, he continues to tour and teach, constantly developing his style. He studied in the ...
Young Carnatic vocalist Bharat Sundar sings Behag, a raga imported from Hindustani Music. It is popular for tukda (‘little pieces’) and other lighter songs.
Bharat Sundar is a young Carnatic vocalist. He first studied under Gayathri Mahesh, and became the first winner of Jaya TV’s Carnatic Music...
