Hindustani Classical Music

I came to Hindustani classical music late, in my twenties, whereas most students start in childhood. A raag is a defined set of notes and characteristic movements, and like most outsiders I assumed those rules were the obstacle, that artistry meant breaking them. The longer I've sat with the form, the more I think the rules are what make the artistry visible.

I practise Khayal on sitar in the Etawah Gharana and Dhrupad on surbahar in the Dagar Vani, both every evening. Sound is God, nada brahma, and practice is for getting closer to it, with the audience coming second. A Dhrupad aalap is an offering as much as a performance, and each note in it is meant to rise from the navel to the head. It takes a long time to get there - ten years of practice to please yourself, twenty for the audience, thirty for your guru, and only then God.

What follows are recordings from practices and performances, and a few essays on how the music is put together, for anyone who has heard a raag and wondered what they were meant to follow.