Indian Archive Music
Kalyani Roy – Sitar

Kalyani Roy belongs to the Imdad Khan/Etawah gharana (Ustad Vilayat Khan is its most celebrated exponent). In this album, she presents two early morning ragas belonging to the Bhairav raga family. The base raga Bhairav has a somber, devotional mood. Raga Ramkali (mood romantic) is developed in the complete classical format and the Raga Jogiya (mood romantic pathos) is presented as a semi-classical piece

Track 1-2-3 The Vilayat Khan protocol of raga presentation has a fixed format. The first phase has the musician playing solo without any percussion. Alap is a free flowing melodic introduction to the raga. Jod is a a stepped-up version of the alap played to a 2-beat rhythm. Reverse jhala is a stepped-up version of the jod played to a 4 or 8 beat cycle.
At the end of the first phase, begins the second phase which is accompanied by the tabla (a percussion instrument).
The percussion accompaniment begins first with a slow tempo (vilambit laya). Next comes a medium-paced (Madhya laya gat) or fast composition (drut laya gat) and finally comes the jhala. This jhala is the reverse of the reverse jhala played just before percussion accompaniment begins.

Alap-Jod-reverse Jhala three constitute the first phase of development and can be heard in track 1. Track 2 begins the percussion accompaniment in a slow tempo. Track 3 has the fast tempo composition ending in the jhala. All 3 tracks played together constitute the full classical development of Raga Ramkali.

Track 4 A semi-classical dhun (melody) based on the Raga Jogiya. The mood of the piece is pathos combined with romance (think yearning, think separation from the beloved). The tabla accompanies in the Keharwa taal(8 beats).