Search - Hari Prasad Chaurasia :: Raga Darbari Kanada

And Do Not Forget About the Tabla!

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel | Oakland, CA USA | 07/24/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As the midnight hour approaches, emotions and thoughts become serious. Deep blues arise. Spiritual resolve develops. The day is over and a new one, full of potential, soon approaches. Darbari Kanada is a rag of this period, and in this recording Hariprasad Chaurasia is the instrumental voice of the ancient dhrupad singer. His alap is deliberate and dignified, and as it smoothly transitions to the more organized and rhythmic jor the raga maintains its mood. When the tabla enters at the gat section, we hear the younger son of Alla Rahka, brother of Zakir Hussain. Fazal Qureshi moves into a 10-beat (jhaptal) gat and then a 12-beat pattern of 4-4-2-2, a special tal called chau-tal (ektal is the general 12-beat term). Qureshi maintains the family tradition and performs with strong and highly varied improvisations, never upstaging the flute but driving the raga mood forward toward karmic action. The final track is a romantic folk melody, called a dhun; it is traditional to end a concert with such a light classical piece, essentially an encore. After the gravity of the major piece, it is refreshing and being mishra, or mixed, we hear different raga scales or melodies. This is very fine album and, along with the album Rag Bhimpalasi by both these artists (no longer available), is among my favorites of the Nimbus series."