Stephen Slawek and Anindo Chatterjee, Raga Charukeshi

This is a recording from a concert that took place in the Butler School of Music of The University of Texas at Austin on April 5, 2003. It was the first time I performed with Pandit Anindo Chatterjee accompanying on tabla. If I recall correctly, we didn't even have a practice session prior to the concert. Still, the concert went well, and I was especially pleased with Raga Charukeshi, which was the second raga of the evening. I played a vilambit gat in tin-tala followed by a drut gat in ek-tala. This was the first time I performed Charukeshi, and I haven't performed it since this concert. Charukeshi is originally a South Indian raga that was adopted into Hindustani sangita during the twentieth century. It uses shuddh svar-s from SA to PA, followed by komal DHA and komal NI.

[@cwinterpreting]

Beautiful, one of my favorite ragas and the picture of Dipika brought me joy when I first layed eyes on this picture. Your aochar alaap before the vilambat gat, with the images in a place we shared so much, warmed my heart with both the pathos of nostalgia of komal Dha and happiness of the Ghandara...once again I am so happy to know you and receive your offerings, Dr. Slawek.

[@platimus7984]

Wow! Will you do concerts once quarantine ends? Also, for a student such as myself, the vilambit was really helpful because of how structured it was. Thanks for this gem!

[@cwinterpreting]

Thats his specialty. Have you read his book, "Sitar Technique in Nibaddha Form"?

[@KeithCroes]

I appreciate your using the terminology applicable to the music. Do you have anything online that defines all these terms, perhaps with examples?

[@sslawek]

vilambit= slow tempo; gat= instrumental composition; drut= fast tempo; tin-tala is a rhythm cycle of 16 beats; ek-tala is a rhythm cycle of 12 beats; Hindustani sangita= the classical music of North India (also found in Pakistan and Nepal); shuddh svar-s= "pure" (i.e., unaltered) scale degrees (as in a major scale); komal= "softened" (as in "flat") DHA= sixth scale degree; NI= seventh scale degree. Taking C as tonic, Charukeshi's scale would be C D E F G A-flat B-flat (but the sitar is usually tuned to a tonic of C#, so the notes here would be a half step higher).

[@KeithCroes]

@@sslawek Just wondering: Does the musical scale directly correlate with the Western scale (in terms of audio frequency in Hz)? If so, wouldn't that amount to an amazing coincidence? Or a common ancestor? Or the innate manner that humans perceive sound and music?

[@sslawek]

@@KeithCroes Not necessarily. The pitch system is relative in Indian music. I tune to C# because the sitar sounds good at that pitch, but I don't think in terms of Western pitch nomenclature. I think in the Indian solfege ( Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni), which refers to intervalic relationships. So, Sa to Pa is a fifth, and Sa is wherever the musician wants it to be (for example, a sarod is normally tuned to a tonic around C; a female vocalist usually would have a tonic somewhere near G. But in all cases, tonic is Sa). The Western scale is arbitrarily set to 12 equidistant intervals with A usually set at a frequency of 440. Pitch intervals in the raga system are determined by a different system of intonation, with the melodic context within a raga influencing the expression of a tone, but also using perfect fifths, thirds, and fourths. It becomes complicated.

[@KeithCroes]

@@sslawek I like complicated (once I figure it out). 😜 Your description is very helpful--thank you.