Recorded at Darbar Festival 2009

Musicians:
- Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar (vocal)
- Mohan Shyam Sharma (pakhawaj)
- Laurence Bastit (tanpura)
- Francine Mercier (tanpura)

Raag Khamboji

Dagar immerses himself in Khamboji, developing the jor and jhala with from delicate to monumental gamaks highlighting each note precisely and with profundity. In this episode, he also shares his experiences on guru-shishya parampara and dhrupad nuances in a short interview. This is followed by a Dhrupad composition in 12 beat cycle called chautal. Mohan Shyam Sharma accompanies him in this grand finale.

Dagar’s lineage is awe-inspiring. He comes from 20 generations of an unbroken lineage of Dhrupad singers, 12 of which have written records and the other 8 have an oral tradition. A heavy legacy tracing back to Tansen’s Guru, Swami Haridas surely rests on his shoulders. But that hasn’t deterred the Dhrupad artist to appreciate and enjoy the little things in life – he is a talented calligrapher and Urdu poet and enjoys driving big cars because the hum of their engines match the pitch of his voice as he hums whenever he takes long drives.

Mohan Shyam Sharma is an accomplished pakhawaj artist from Rajasthan. He is an intuitive accompanist and handles pakhawaj techniques with Dhrupad renditions in the most imaginative and fluent way.