Thoughts on Music


December 02, 2015

Ragas and Masters of Yore

My father-guru narrated this story to me and I would like to share with you for whatever worth it is . Once,it seems,Alladiya khansaheb,was singing an anavat raga in a Mehefil ( a raga he had created after long deliberation – my father-guru did not mention what raga it was! ). As he was singing it in full flow,he happened to see a fellow musician walk into the Mehefil and sit before him and Khansaheb suddenly kept in abeyance one Swara throughout and sang the raga to the full.......

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September 20, 2015

Ragaswaras

Like characters in a play coming in their particular costume, ragaswaras come in the costumes meant for them in a particular raga. There are no seven swaras or even twenty two shrutis in Hindustani classical...


September 20, 2015

The Absent Performer

The musician should be a worshipper of ragaswaras and laya. He should beseech each and every ragaswaras to bless him with their true splendour. In really great music, as in all great art, the musician...


September 11, 2015

Flow in Music

Flow in music is that which comes out naturally and automatically without your having to think about the moves and turns. It happens when you are bone-marrow drenched in the raga, when you have totally...


September 11, 2015

My obeisance to my Guru on Guru Poornima

Musical vocalization has two centres of activity, one psychological and another physiological. Although musical sounds, in terms of notes, are made in the area of the larynx, it is the mind which is the centre...


September 10, 2015

Why do I sing ?

My profession for thirty five years was teaching English Literature and Linguistics in college and at the University and I was quite happy with it. That was my bread and butter matter. But life is...


September 10, 2015

Sing like yourself

Beauty in music cannot be applied from the outside. Beauty comes from within you in your singing. It is a state of the mind and the fruit of intelligent Riyaaz under the guidance of the...


August 16, 2015

Is it necessary to sing Rare/Apprachalit Ragas?

Reading my Facebook notes on music, a young talented musician enquired me if it was important to sing rare ragas, to what kind of audience and why. Since she has been discussing this problem with...


July 29, 2015

What makes me Sing?

Why do I sing? My profession for thirty five years was teaching English Literature and Linguistics in college and at the University and I was quite happy with it.That was my bread and butter matter....


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