Darbar believes in the power of Indian classical music to stir, thrill, and inspire. Explore our YouTube channel or subscribe to the Darbar Player to watch extended festival performances, talks, and documentaries in pristine...
To touch, or tug at one or both ears, is a visible sign of repentance in South Asian cultures. But one often notices that Indian musicians, as well as their disciples, perform...
Like North Indian music, Carnatic or South Indian music is also underwritten by raga (melodic structure) and tala (rhythmic cycle). Although improvisation plays an important role, compositional vocal music remains the dominant...
One famous story of an Indian musician tuning before his audience has now taken a permanent place in the annals of West-meets-Indian-music history: The year was 1971, the event was George Harrison’s...
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...
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...
Rasa (also spelt ras) is the word for ‘juice’ in many Indian languages. In a musical sense, its meaning is closer to the English words ‘essence’, ‘flavour’, or even ‘self-luminosity’. It is...
In Indian classical music, whether Hindustani (North Indian) or Carnatic (South Indian), rhythm is encapsulated in the concept of taal (spelt and pronounced tala in English), which means ‘clap.’ Loosely speaking, one...
Why does India celebrate Teachers’ Day? For Baselia Neves, a primary English school teacher at a private school in Mumbai, a typical weekday morning involves waking up at 6:00 am, attending to...