Raag Anuraag: CD review

The difficult art of talking music

How do you explain a complex music to a lay listener? Well-known singer Parameshwar Hegde put his students to work on this challenge, and the result is Raag Anuraag, a two-CD introduction to Hindustani music.

The album opens with some comments on the nature of Indian music and quickly switches to short renderings of popular ragas. The sweet-voiced Amrita Rao sings a composition in raga Madhuvanti, and you soon get an explanation of how it is different from raga Patdeep and raga Bhimpalasi. Similarly, the CDs introduce other clusters of ragas with the help of compositions sung by Hegde's students.

The general observations soon give way to a more advanced discourse, and it looks like the collection assumes you are already an insider to the world of Indian classical music. Unless you know a fair bit of music terminology, you may not fully understand the commentary from this point. But the album still reaches out to the lay listener by connecting classical compositions with film songs.

For instance, you understand that Bahut din beete beete, sung by almost every Hindustani khayal musician, is based on raga Puriya Dhanasri, the same raga that Kannada film song Nambide ninna nada devateye (Sandhyaraga) employs. Similarly, the Lata Mangeshkar hit Rasik balma is used to illustrate raga Shuddh Kalyan.

Raag Anuraag shows how Hegde, a disciple of Pandit Chandrashekhar Puranikmath and Pandit Basavaraj Rajguru, has prepared scores of students committed to carrying on the tradition. An academy named after Hegde is quietly spreading the art in Bangalore, besides organising concerts by musicians from all over India.

If you've heard Hegde's music live, you will have heard most compositions featured in Raag Anuraag, and you might want to pick up the collection just to have them on your shelf. Also, Hegde's students show promise, and some are musically mature beyond their years. Raag Anuraag is not as ambitious as the multiple-CD Alaap (Times Music) or the three-cassette Music Today introduction to Hindustani music, but it still offers a quick peek into the treasures of a great tradition. But it would be unrealistic to expect Raag Anuraag, or any such introduction, to turn a newcomer to classical music into an instant connoisseur. That calls for some sustained listening, and some interaction with the more knowledgeable.

Hindustani music is a difficult art, but it needn't be esoteric and incomprehensible. It can be appreciated with some help, and it is heartening that Parameshwar Hegde Music Academy has taken upon itself the responsibility of reaching out to the curious lay listener.


Raag Anuraag
Rs 200
Parameshwar Hegde Music Academy, Bangalore
Phone 93412 48257