Raga Shuddh Sarang, Raga Pilu

Artist name – Prof. Debu Chaudhuri
Album name – Raga Shuddh Sarang
Label – India Archive Music

Shuddha Sarang is an afternoon raga and the mood is of a hot Indian afternoon where all you want is some shade, drowsiness is seemingly driven away. Pilu is not restricted to any particular time of day but the rendering of Pilu in this album is different from usual.

Track 1 – This introduces and elaborates on the raga without any rhythmic accompaniment. Alap is a free-flowing introduction to Raga Shuddha Sarang. The usual technical decorations or flourishes are absent from this rendering, the raga is presented in a very simple and clean way. The jor is a stepped-up version of the alap (see insert for more technical details) and the artist soon launches into the jhala (the fastest piece of the development).

Track 2 – The tabla joins in slow tempo (tintal = a 16 beat cycle). Listen for the cool Sitar tehais here and throughout the album.

Track 3 – A completely different taal is presented here (rhythm cycle is of 11 beats, called Chartal ki Sawari).

Track 4 – The previous track segues into this track unnoticeably. Fast taans
and todas are executed ending in the jhala which starts slow before picking up in tempo . The raga ends in a quiet, almost unassuming way.

Track 5 – A very meditative piece in the raga Pilu. I’ve always heard Pilu presented in a cheerful, light-hearted way so this came as a big surprise. The tabla is very muted throughout. An excellent, quiet, contemplative piece!