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My favourite raga
Music is love: Satish Vyas
Million dollar question. Yet, over years of playing different ragas, you develop a special bond with some. And intentionally or not, they begin to feature in all your concerts. Quite like your near and dear ones in life. Music is love too. And there
is no fun unless you romance ragas.
Keeravani, basically a South Indian raga, is my favourite. Why? It features all the seven notes and you can convey emotions such as love, pathos and happiness, depending on your mood, with different combination of notes.
Also, this raga is most suitable for santoor. It brings out the melodious sound of the strings. The moment you take it up you can strike a rapport with the audience.
Perfect scale for fusion
If you are jamming with other artistes, Keeravani has the perfect scale for fusion exercises. It will make you audible even in a crowd of artistes. You will understand why I am saying this if you listen to my santoor in the album ‘Pure Silk’ I did with Louis Banks, Shankar Mahadevan, Karl Peters and Sivamani. It is actually a live recording of our concert in London’s prestigious Barbican Centre.
As for compositions in Keeravani, I don’t have to say much about it as instruments don’t have a language. But all the compositions of my guruji Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma are wonderful. There are three different pieces in three different tempos (vilambit, madhyam and dhrut) in the same teen taal and the effect is pure magic. Mention Keeravani and I cannot think beyond guruji’s masterpieces.
CHITRA SWAMINATHAN
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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