Upon the request of Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who was also part of the Darbar 2007 line-up, Begum Parveen Sultana embarks upon this beautiful tarana in Raag Hamsadhwani. After a captivating alaap establishing the raga in all four octaves, Begum Sultana begins the tarana, embellishing it with all...

“Before I started playing santoor, I was trained as a vocalist and a tabla player and I feel that has helped me a lot...I tried to balance melody with rhythm.” (Shivkumar Sharma)

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Shivkumar Sharma is one of very few Indian instrumentalists who has near-single-handedly ...

“The bansuri is just a simple piece of bamboo. But it brings many benefits, not only for your ears but for your entire body and soul. To play it is to meditate.” (Rupak Kulkarni)

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Rupak Kulkarni is one of today’s finest bansuri exponents. Essentially just a tube of ba...

The word sarangi translates to ‘one hundred colours’, said to reflect its expressive versatility. It is thought to have evolved from Rajasthani folk instruments.

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Kamal Sabri carries his family’s musical tradition forward to a seventh generation. He absorbed the rich S...

Recorded at Darbar Festival 2011, on 24th April, at King's Place, London.

Musicians:
- Roopa Panesar (sitar)
- Sukhvinder Singh (tabla)
- Gunwant Kaur (tanpura)

Raag Puriya; Thaat: Marwa; Samay: Night

Roopa Panesar plays a courageous choice of raag Puriya, which is wrapped up in complex lay...

Recorded at Darbar Festival on 21 Sep 2014, at London’s Southbank Centre.

Musicians:
- Niladri Kumar (sitar)
- Subhankar Banerjee (tabla)

Raag Bhimpalasi; Thaat: Kafi; Samay: Afternoon

Niladri Kumar’s virtuosic take on the afternoon Raag Bhimpalasi, running up and down his sitar’s fretboard at...

Kaushiki Chakraborty’s concerts offer a dense concoction of pure notes, intricate embellishments and masterful techniques. However, this one stands out with the added supremacy of the Patiala stylisation. Accompanied by Satyajit Talwalkar (tabla) and Ajay Joglekar (harmonium), this is one not to ...

Recorded for Darbar on location in India in 2015.

Musicians:
- Jayanthi Kumaresh (saraswati veena)

Raga Karnataka Shuddha Saveri

Jayanthi Kumaresh gives a superb unamplified demonstration of her Saraswati veena, playing the intricate Raga Karnataka Shuddha Saveri.

Jayanthi Kumaresh’s saraswat...

“We belong to a 300-year-old legacy of the Benaras gharana. Our music has to have the intrinsic qualities of this ancient city.” (Rajan & Sajan Mishra)

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Rajan & Sajan Mishra live, breathe, and sing the essence of Varanasi. They grew up there, receiving initial training...

Aruna leads a 5-piece Carnatic group through the ambiguous colours of Teertha Vitthala Kshetra Vitthala, a devotional song recounting a legend of Krishna.

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Teertha Vitthala Kshetra Vitthala recounts a myth where Pundalik, a devotee of Krishna, was visited by the god at...

Recorded at Darbar on 20 Sep 2014 at London’s Southbank Centre.

Musicians:
- Jyoti Hegde (rudra veena)
- Surdarshan Chana (jori)
- Debipriya Sircar (tanpura)

Raag Poorvi; Thaat: Poorvi, Samay: Late Afternoon

Jyoti Hegde is one of only a handful who has mastered the rudra veena. Here she uses t...

We are happy to share this beautiful presentation of Raga Hamsadhwani by Dr Kadri Gopalnath at the Darbar Festival in London. He is accompanied by Jyotsna Srikanth (violin), Bangalore Praveen (mridangam) and RN Prakash (ghatam).

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Hamsadhwani is an upanga janya of the 29th ...

The darbar team presents this special 'best moments' video capturing some of the hightlights of amazing percussionist, Patri Satish Kumar performing during the Darbar Festival 2013, at London’s Southbank Centre. This was recorded during the concert by Jayanthi Kumaresh on the Saraswati Veena.
...

‘Ragamalika’ translates to ‘garland of ragas’. Let South India’s finest violin brothers lead you through a variety of moods, sampling many different musical colours.

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Ganesh & Kumaresh Rajagopalan are Carnatic music’s foremost violin brothers, having performed together...

Two of the world’s most accomplished tabla players join forces for a one-off London concert, dueling over teental using ideas from many different gharanas.

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Anindo Chatterjee is one of the most accomplished tabla players of the modern age, known for breathtaking speed ...

The Lalgudi siblings attack a fierce thillana composition by their father Lalgudi G Jayaraman - a Carnatic song form based on strong rhythm and dance-like musical interplay.

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The Lalgudi siblings are the torchbearers of their eponymous gharana, named for their late fa...

Recorded for Darbar on 4 Apr 2008, at the Phoenix, Leicester.

Musician
- Irshad Khan (surbahar)

Raag Darbari; Thaat: Asavari; Samay: Midnight

Irshad Khan plays the surbahar (bass sitar), using its thick, deep-toned timbres to explore Raag Darbari, harking back to when musicians played for king...

Sitar maestro Budhaditya Mukherjee’s spectacular rendition of the rain-bringing Raag Miyan Ki Malhar, live from an Indian thunderstorm. Full story in the description below.

0:00 | storm
0:36 | alap
1:00 | vilambit gat
8:53 | drut gat
12:10 | ati drut gat

Nature takes pity on us and orchestra...

“Musicians should open their ears to many different ideas. The personal creative impulse is more important than trying to limit yourself to your own tradition.“ (Parveen Sultana)

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Begum Parveen Sultana’s voice is renowned for its extraordinary range, clarity, and versa...

“My gurus...were all liberal thinkers and avid collectors of knowledge. They believed in learning from as many sources as possible.” (Shubha Mudgal)

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Shubha Mudgal sings a distinct brand of of khayal. Born in Allahabad to two Professors of English Literature, her versa...

Universal Notes is an extraordinary fusion of Carnatic, Hindustani, and Western classical music, blending sophisticated string writing with strident melodic improvisation.

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Universal Notes brings together Western classical music with both Indian classical traditions - ...

Recorded by Darbar on 22 Jun 2017 at Italy’s Ravenna Festival:
- Ranjani & Gayatri (vocals)
- Jyotsna Srikanth (violin)
- Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam)
- Giridhar Udupa (ghatam)

Raga Chandrakauns
Raga Madhukauns

“I present two ragas at the same time, through a device called murchana…” The sing...

Recorded for Darbar in 2015, Guptipara, West Bengal
- Debasmita Bhattacharya (sarod)

Raag Bhimpalasi; Thaat: Kafi; Samay: Afternoon

Debasmita Bhattacharya is a sarodia from the new generation. Her rendition of the afternoon Raag Bhimpalasi is romantic yet sombre, demonstrating both patience and...

Recorded for Darbar in 2015, on location in India

Musician:
- Bickram Ghosh (tabla)

Modern master Bickram Ghosh believes that “what a tabla player knows is truly established through his solo work”. See him play unaccompanied in this lively demo clip.

Born in Kolkata to esteemed tabla artist Sh...