Made a nice trip yesterday with this Raga. Dedicated to the sun and clouds. Especially for the lovers of peace and quietness!
If you want to hear more: After this 'Sequana' follows very good.
Enjoy!
(More info on the Raga below)

1. Sync24, There is no Spoon 0:00
2. Zero Cult, Redreaming 7:45
3. Raga Pancham Kosh Raga Malkauns (Zia Mohiuddin Dagar) 15:41

Fractal Images by Zaftra
zaftram@gmail.com

I take credit only for mixing. I do not take any credit for these tracks; all tracks are courtesy of their rightful owners & them only. For promotional use only. Please support all artists, buy their tracks!

About the Raga:
“The close derivation of Raga Pancham Kosh from Raga Malkauns is exploited here to switch to the latter raga for the dhrupad proper. The latter is of course an older raga with more significant compositions. Although the items are listed separately on the CD, there is only one actual track”
This is a recording made in France in the church of Notre-Dame du Liban from 1988. It's a very rare Auvidis recording, a label that specialized in Dhrupad and very rarely recorded, yet influential artists. I would say before you finish reading this review...GET IT.
There are not a lot of recordings by Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. All of them by the very nature of his artistry of the Maestro indispensable and of far-reaching significance in understanding the ancient art of Dhrupad and music in general.
Before Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar started performing on this most ancient of instruments (There are descriptions of it going back to the time of the Vedas: 7000 B.C.) it was more of a practise instrument, due to the prevalence of vocal music in Dhrupad. The Ustad finally got permission from his father to pursue mastery over the unwieldy Rudra Veena and consequently made changes in the construction and sound of it to produce a warmer and more emotive sound.
This is a recording of the Raga Malkauns, actually divided into Alaap an Johr proper in Pancham Kosh, an associated Raga and Chautal in Malkauns.
The church atmosphere does full justice to the potential of the Rudra Veena to convey layers of subtle vibration. The playing on this recording is in the same league as Raga Yaman, Todi, Bageshri, Lalit, etc.
This is not entertaining music, it is performed from an attitude of utter humility and devotion, carried through countless generations of temple musicians. If one takes the trouble to surrender to it, it is a very rewarding experience, bound to bring the listener closer to his or her true Self.

CD: Art of Rudra-Veena
Drums played by Manik Munde (no tabla, but a pakhawaj). The drone sound is from 2 Tampuras.