The link that emerges between Hindustani and Western classical music in the book, ‘Rag Malika,’ holds enormous possibilities.
Dr. Shruti Jauhari is a Hindustani vocalist, scholar and teacher. The English adaptation of Pt. V.N. Bhatkhande’s classic ‘Kramik Pustak Malika’, which is in Hindi, is a unique attempt.
This book deals with raag and taal compositions. The author discusses a variety of classical forms and deals in detail the structure of Hindustani music.
The first chapter Rag shows the different series of notes within an octave, how these form the basis of all Indian melodies, and how each is distinguished from the other by the prominence of certain fixed notes.
The author has outlined this through 10 raags. Shruti has provided a literal and metaphorical translation of the lyrics. The Hindustani raags have explicit entities that can be pictorialised — they express the colour, the season and have a fix time of rendition. While enunciating the taal, Shruti points out how this is the essence in Indian music.
The cover of the book is a painting by Late S. Rajam, a homage to the artist himself. The book is a tribute to Pt. Bhatkhande and is designed to make Hindustani music accessible to the Western audience and a wide range of performers, who can benefit from the notations Shruti has painstakingly transcribed.
The book especially proposes to bridge the gap between a Western and an Indian musician and help in building up a global music consciousness.
Dr. Shruti Jauhari is the the managing trustee, Geetanjali SangeetAcademy. The book ‘Rag Malika’ is published by Sangeet KaryalayaHathras.
