Indian classical music is largely a hereditary tradition, generally taught in a pedagogical fashion and handed down from father to son. Since Indian music is rarely written down, watching and listening to...
Unlike many other classical traditions, India’s ancient treatises on classical music have always cited dance as an integral part of music rather than a separate (or merely related) activity. It is said...
The mother of all North Indian drums, the pakhawaj is also known as the mridang, the generic word for any barrel-shaped drum. A two-headed drum descended from the much older South Indian...
Prathap Awad is a distinguished pakhawaj maestro from Maharashtra, deeply rooted in the Nana Panse tradition. He holds an M.A. in Pakhawaj from Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune, and has trained extensively within a...
In a world grappling with the aftermath of a pandemic and mental health crisis, what sounds can help most on our road to recovery? Emerging research has started to support what Indian...
“It’s like the rush of a marsh on a midsummer night with a million crickets, or the howling wind stirring the power lines outside a cabin in backwoods Idaho, or the hushed...
When you think of the violin, you might envision an older gentleman in a tuxedo playing in a grand concert hall. But in Indian classical music, the violin takes on a whole...
Apart from musical content and the esoteric concept of rasa (‘juice, essence, flavour’), Indian classical raags (melodic structures) are also assigned to particular times of day or night to maximise their emotional...
Unlike many other classical traditions, India’s ancient treatises on classical music have always cited dance as an integral part of music rather than a separate (or related) activity. It is said that...