I selected this raga because last fall, there was a guest artist that gave a master class and performance. When we started this unit, I thought back to this experience and wanted to circle back to the performers, Hindole Majumdar & Ayushman Majumdar. The raga begins with the harmonium, which we learned was used as a melodic drone. The harmonium player was solo for about 3 minutes, when the tabla joined in. It is a father and son duo, and they traded going back and forth on their tablas. It follows the “form” that we heard in other ragas, with the drone starting solo in the beginning, and the tabla joining in. It started with a more simple rhythm, and eventually moved into a more intense conversation. After some time, both tabla players played together, sounding like they were playing in unison for some sections. Towards the end, Hindole Majumdar demonstrates syllables used, and then performs those “syllables” on the tabla. This reflected how a lot of music is learned, seeing as many say if you can say it/speak the syllables, you can play it. Reflecting back on the experience I had when they came to SNC as guest artists, there were a lot of similarities to what we learned in class. He explained syllables to us and used the same hand motions we learned in class, and he also explained how they learned how to play by speaking the syllables. I thought it was an insightful connection from something we were learning in class to something many of the fellow music majors had experienced already. While this raga does not necessarily have a title listed, the structure of this performance was very similar to the experience I had watching them perform last fall. It was insightful to draw the connection and have a new understanding of the history behind this music tradition.

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYRqi5LCme8