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Sunday, April 19, 2020

Magic of music



We are going through difficult times and I thought I will share something different which can inspire you in a different direction

 
There is nothing like music which can change the mood of a person. You can be transformed from one mood to another just by listing to your favorite track. One such place you can find this plenty of is in Indian classical music be it Hindustani or Carnatic music. Both are based on ragas. While the implementation can vary, fundamentally at its core is ragas which are a melodic framework where certain notes or swaras are to be used while going up and coming down. These swaras with the way they are placed together can evoke emotion which is why the ragas have time of day when they should be played


Indian classical enjoyment certainly goes up when you do some active listing. Today I want to share one such case with you. If you already know theory of Indian classical you can skip this and directly go to the track but if not read on.

There are many beats system in Hindustani classical music tala (literally meaning clap) which are rhythmic beat that measure musical time. One of these is the teen tal. Check out a brief introduction below.





An artist may play a set song or may freelance depending on what they are playing. Let's layer the complexity on this, the artist has to adhere to rules of the raga and tala. If they are playing a set composition then the notes or words must end on a certain beat 'know as sum' and if they freelance in between, like a jazz musician, then they must do it within the constraint of the raga and tala and finish on the correct beat.

With me so far. Good, lets add a bit more complexity to this, a percussionist playing the tala  can change speed to twice the speed or four times the speed. This in Hindustani music is called dhrut. So a faster version of theen tal is dhrut teen tal. It sounds like this




The artist now performing may speed up with the beat and end at the right note or slowdown enough that the beats go by fast enough and they end on the right note creating a contrast between the two. All this while adhering the rules of the raga and if there is a song then within the rules of the song.

Now lets come to raga. I am sharing with you a performance of Rag Desh by Buddhadev Das Gupta - Lilting Melodies 


This has all the elements I just mentioned. This is an amazing rendition of Raga Des. This raga is an uplifting raga which is true for this track as well. If you have great speakers or headphones then listen to this on that. The song is like walking down mountains where there is light rain. It starts off slow and as we start following the trail of water coming together which leads you to a small stream which is when the beat starts.

Then as you follow the trail of the stream it slowly picks up speed to a point where it joins a river and then the river becomes faster with many rapids and finally ending a beautiful waterfall.


https://wynk.in/music/song/gats-desh/sa_INH100092060


Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta was a real jewel of Indian classical music. You can read about him here