Player: Dr N Rajam Composition Format: Thumri Raag: Bhairavi ____________________________________________________________________________________
Continuing my romance with instrumental thumris, here is another exquisite piece by Dr Rajam. The piece is based in raag Bhairavi, which is soon becoming my favourite.
I love the richness of this piece. It makes me feel like I am a courtier in a royal darbar and the music is echoing across the immense hall, and, perhaps, the prince is spellbound by the beauty of the player and the beauty of the music of course.
Player: Kala Ramnath Composition Format: Thumri Raag: Kaafi __________________________________________________________________________________
Thumri is primarily a format of vocal composition. I have come to adore thumris, especially in the voice of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. I could never imagine them being played on an instrument, and then I discovered a whole bunch of beautiful instrumental thumris. The possibilities in classical music really are endless!
This particular piece is breathtakingly beautiful. Like the one I shared earlier, this too evokes a beautiful sense of nostalgia. I, for one, always recede into my thoughts when I hear these two pieces.
What I really love about Kala Ramnath's playing is that she keeps all parts of the composition at just the right length. I especially like how she keeps her jhalas short; I don't like jhalas so much; they sound good in full-length raag performances but they needn't be part of all compositions. Long aalaps, short jhalas, that's how it should be. :)
Bhajan by: Soor Das ji Player: Dr N Rajam Taal: Rupak Taal ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
I feel so comforted when I hear this.... Like a lover's arms have embraced me warmly... He truly loves me... and I truly love him..... and the world is perfect around us.... :) I learnt to play the violin in the gayaki style which is the forte of Dr. N Rajam. In this style, instrumental music is played the way a song is sung - the techniques of singing are applied to instrumental music. I don't know which bhajan by Soor Das this is. I just found it in an album and fell in love with it.
The title says Soor Das ji Bhajan in Rupak Taal but doesn't mention
which bhajan it is. So if anyone out there is listening to this and
knows about it, please tell me! I would love to know what words comprise
this divine melody.
