Rag Desh

Rag Desh

1. 1. Anoushka Shankar

   • Alap - slow, no pulse, monophonic sitar, fluid rhythms,improvisation
   • Gat 1 - fixed composition by sitar, medium tempo, tabla 10 beat cycle
   • Gat 2 - faster than first gat, tabla plays 16 beat cycle = 4+4+4+4
   • Jhalla - finishes fast and with 3 x tihai, drones from sitar

2. 2. Vocal

   • Alap - short introduction by soared player, singer then enters vocalised melody in free time
   • Bhajan - fixed composition by sarod and sarangi, tabla join playing an 8 beat cycle, tempo and dynamics increase to create excitement, ends on sarod and sarangi solo

3. 3. Bansuri

   • Alap -slow and unmeasured, tambura plays drone notes c and g, followed by bansuri improvising notes of the rag for main melody
   • Gat 1- slow tempo, lyrical unaccompanied melody for bansuri, tabla later joins playing a 7 beat cycle = 3+2+2 called rupak tal.
     • After this a fixed composition is played where the bansuri and tabla play. The music becomes agitated - the bansuri plays the gat repeatedly while tabla player improvises they then swap functions and play several tihais.
   • Gat 2 - fast tempo and tabla plays a 12 beat cycle ( 2+2+2+2+2+2) called ektal tal.