KPFA-FM Music Dept. ➔ A Concert of Indian Classical Music by Ram Narayan (July 28, 1968), 2 of 5
Analog Audio
Event Type
MusicOrigin
KPFAIdentifier
AM.1968.07.27.BProgram Length
137 minPart
2 of 5Dates
1968-07-27 | broadcast| 1968-07-27 | created
Description
On July 27, 1968, as the culmination of a month of special Indian music programing on KPFA, the radio station in conjunction with the American Society for Eastern Arts presented this concert featuring master sarangi player Ram Narayan, accompanied by tabla player Mahapurush Misra, and recorded at the Berkeley Little Theater. Narayan was born in Udaipur in Northwest India into a family of musician and soon learned to play the sarangi. After working as a teacher and traveling musician he later became an accompanist for singers on All India Radio as well as recording for film. He eventually went on to become one of the first sarangi players to perform as a solo artist in 1956, and has toured extensively throughout the world ever since. The sarangi is the most popular Indian bowed instrument and has three main gut strings along with up to 35 metal sympathetic strings. It has a range that closely matches the human voice and is often used to accompany singing, although masters such as Narayan have increasingly used the instrument in solo performances. In this concert Narayan presents three full ragas, the first “Raga Marwa” is an evening raga and is first performed alap, or without rhythmic accompaniment, Mahapurush Misra then joins in on tabla first with a slow tintal of 16 beats, then medium ektal of 14 beats, before concluding with a fast tintal of 16 beats. This is followed by the late evening “Raga Khamaj,” first in alap, then in chachar tala (14 beats) and ending with a tintal or 16 beat rhythmic accompaniment. The concert then concludes with “Raga Bhairavi” an early morning raga traditionally used to conclude classical Indian music concerts that are typically much longer affairs that do not end until well after midnight. Raga Bhairavi is also heard first in alap, then chachar tala and tintal.Howard Hersh is the concert announcer and he is joined by Graeme Vanderstole of the American Society for Eastern Arts, who provides some added information about some of the pieces heard in this exceptional concert by one of the world’s greatest sarangi players.
Genres
World musicMusical Selections
Raga Marwa: Alap ; Gat in Slow Tintal ; Gat in Medium Ektal ; Gat in Fast Tintal [part 2] (39:15)Performers
Ram Narayan, sarangiMahapurush Misra, tabla
Subjects
World musicMusic -- India
Ragas
Hindustani music
Sarangi and tabla music
Acknowledgment
Funding for the preservation of this program made possible through a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts.Related places
Berkeley (Calif.) (was recorded at)Berkeley (Calif.) (was broadcast at)
Related Entities
Narayan, Ram, 1927-Misra, Mahapurush