Swaraanginee: Compositions in Morning, Afternoon and Evening Raags of North Indian Classical Music with Notation, Song-Text Meaning & Audio CD

Bandish or song-text is an important component of musical material and it has a distinct role in music making of North Indian (Hindustani) classical music. To create a bandish, one has to have sound knowledge about –swar, lay, raag, taal, form, interest in literature affinity towards words, ability to create novelty in the context of tradition, independent style, etc. In addition, other things – theme and placement of the words in the song-text according to the name and time of the raag, complementary themes in the vilambit and drut compositions in the same raag make the musical and emotional content of the raag more appealing.

Dr. Prabha Atre’s bandishs reflect all the above mentioned aspects of a good bandish. It is rare to find a woman performer who has composed bandishs of different genres, representative of changing times. It is even rare to find an artiste writing on contemporary music performance from different perspectives.

In this book, there are 164 compositions in 42 raags, which include forms like khyaal, taraanaa and chaturang in morning, afternoon and evening raags. The book also contains 7 self-created raags like ‘Tilang Bhairav’ ‘Kaushik Bhairav’, Ravi Bhairav’, Kalaaheer’, ‘Shivakali’, Shivaani’ and ‘Bheemavanti’ along with their illustrative aalaap and taan.

The notation and the accompanying illustrative audio recording of the bandishs will help music loves and students to enjoy better. (jacket)