Indian Classical Central

 
Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (1929 – 1990) A still from Mani Kaul’s documentary film “Dhrupad”.

As I was going through a huge pile of audio cassettes today that were collected during the 90’s -about 400 or so – all of them yet to be digitized and cataloged properly. I chanced upon this wonderful recording played by Ustad-ji. I wish I had written more details about this reocording such as the date, venue, source etc. but at that time I was but a student of of ICM and had not taken up Archiving of Indian Classical Music. But still, the music is what it is – one of the best rendition of Raga Yaman on Rudra Veena.

Raga Yaman – alap 65:09 (short clip)

This piece is interesting in many ways -

• The recording is quite clean and it could be third or fourth generation copy
• It consists of just the Alap, a full-length Alap of one hour plus.
• There is no hurry of playing a Gat and no urge to show off the technical skills.
• The instrument is Rudra Veena or Been – There aren’t many who play this wonderful instrument.
• And of course, it is Raga Yaman – though this is one of the very first Raga that is taught by most, and learnt by most, but it could be a test of the musician to sing or play this Raga.

Been has a an exceptional capablity of exploring the notes in Mandra and Ati Mandra Saptak (lower octaves) and Ustad-ji has used it to  expand Raga Yaman in a captivating and enchanting manner.

Credits:

1. Photograph (top): http://www.raga.com/cds/220/220images.html
2. Photograph (Bottom): http://www.raga.com/cds/219/219text.html
2. Audio Recording: from Dhaivat Shukla’s personal archives
3. Digitization: Dhaivat Shukla