"Rasarang," North Indian Classical Music Performed By Rajeev Taranath

05/11/2004 01:15AM

Golden Horn Records released Rasarang, an album of North Indian classical music performed by sarod master Rajeev Taranath. Accompanying master Taranath are Abhiman Kaushal on tabla and Chad Hamill on tanpura. About the album, Taranath said, “I will just close my eyes, listen to the mood and absorb what is going on around me and the music will come.” Rasarang demonstrates how his inspiration for Raga, “the main building block of any concert of Indian classical music…(and) that which gives color,” weaves technicality with a fire of emotion connecting player to audience. A Raga is not just a scale or melodic mode, but a complex system of exploring melody, following certain rules of ornamentation and intonation, and expressing a unique emotional color. “Playing a raga, to a musician, then means being aware of …(the) rules and making music while playing the notes to open up different vistas, some already traversed, some not yet, all the time abiding strictly to given rules. The musician is not unlike a mathematician who sets up problems with different levels of difficulty and sets about solving them with precision and clarity.” Taranath’s description of musician as mathematician betrays the depth of emotion revealed through his sarod. Taranath best describes his musicianship by quoting T.S. Eliot, “You are the music while it lasts.”

Rasarang presents four Ragas: Vachaspati, Desh, Jogia Kalingra, and Piloo. For listeners new to Indian music, Rasarang’s liner notes include an interview with Taranath on Raga and bansuri player Deepak Ram’s eloquent description of the Ragas played by master Taranath. Raga Vachaspati is a challenging raga, which originates in the South Indian musical tradition but is performed here in the North Indian style. It is one scale among those known as ‘melas.’ On this CD, Taranath plays only the first part of a North Indian performance, known as Alap.

The second Raga, Desh, is “derived from folk music” and “evokes romantic and nostalgic feelings.” Taranath performs Desh starting with a slow teental (a sixteen-beat rhythmic cycle) and moving to a “second faster composition also in teental…gradually increasing in tempo, ending with an exciting Jhala.” Raga Jogia Kalingra is the combination of two morning Ragas (Jogia and Kalingra). Taranath plays an Aachor (“an abridged form of Alap”), followed by a slow composition in rupak (a seven-beat rhythmic cycle) and concluding with a second faster composition in teental. Raga Piloo is a popular Raga that bends the rules “for the sake of aesthetics.” However, as Ram states, “It takes a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge of a raga before one can find ‘loopholes’ in the laws governing the particular Raga, whilst still maintaining its ‘aura’.”

Buy Rasarang.

World Music Central
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20040510181507896