Young Carnatic vocalist Bharat Sundar sings Behag, a raga imported from Hindustani Music. It is popular for tukda (‘little pieces’) and other lighter songs.

Bharat Sundar is a young Carnatic vocalist. He first studied under Gayathri Mahesh, and became the first winner of Jaya TV’s Carnatic Music...

Young sitarist Dhruv Bedi plays the early night-time raga Shudh Kalyan, a blend of Bhupali and Yaman. Dhruv studies under Imdadkhani maestro Budhaditya Mukherjee.

Bedi is one of India’s most promising young sitarists. The son of sitar and surbahar exponent Jagdeep Singh Bedi, he also receives tr...

Amidst the incessant chirping of birds in this stunning temple complex in South India, Jayanth Ambedkar explores the Carnatic raga Kapi on his bansuri – the bamboo flute.

This video was shot early in the morning at the sandstone-carved Tiger Caves in coastal Tamil Nadu. The stark sound of the ...

It is said that the ancestors of the Mallick family, Darbhanga court musicians, once ended a drought in the area through singing the rain-bringing Raag Megh.

Pandit Ramkumar and Samit Mallick are leading exponents of the Darbhanga dhrupad court music tradition, named for a former state near the ...

Dhruv Bedi is one of India’s most promising young sitarists. The son of sitar and surbahar exponent Jagdeep Singh Bedi, he also receives training from Budhaditya Mukherjee in the traditional guru-shishya style. He is renowned for his natural ability at capturing gayaki ang [singing style], and al...

A special performance against the Bay of Bengal beach, Shashank perfoms Raag Ahir Bhairav. Born to a biochemist father in the extraordinarily musical village of Rudrapatna, Shashank Subramanyam started learning early in life. He mastered all 72 Melakarta scales by the age of two-and-a-half, promp...

Filmed on location at Singur, West Bengal, Mita Nag performs Suha Kanada. Nag is the sixth generation of sitarists in her family - a lineage including Manilal Nag (her father) and Gokul Nag (her grandfather). She hails from the Bishnupur gharana, a dhrupad-influenced tradition of Bengal, and is k...

Ramakant Gaikwad calls out across the Maharashtra plains as if to an unseen companion, using Bageshree to alternate between optimism and introspection

Ramakant Gaikwad is a promising young khayal singer who fuses the Kirana and Patiala gharanas. He started learning aged 4 at his father’s music s...

Indrani Mukherjee sings the morning Raag Todi amongst the lush setting of The Rajbari Bawali near Kolkata. Mukherjee is from the Kirana-Rampur style and thumri in Purab Ang. After training in the family she studied under gurus from Allahabad and Benares, and was selected as a scholar of the ITC ...

Shashank Subramanyam substitutes a tanpura for the sounds of the ocean for an outdoor take of Raga Charukeshi.

Born to a biochemist father in the extraordinarily musical village of Rudrapatna, Shashank Subramanyam started learning early in life. He mastered all 72 Melakarta scales by the age of...

Sitar maestro Budhaditya Mukherjee’s spectacular rendition of the rain-bringing Raag Mian Ki Malhar, live from an Indian thunderstorm.

Darbar doesn't usually share what goes on behind the scenes of our shoots, but on this occasion the events that we witnessed were too spectacular to keep to our...

Set amongst the stunning Tiger Caves said to have been built in the 8th century AD, Jayanth plays Sindhu Bhairavi. As a child his grandmother V.S. Sundar gave him a grounding in Carnatic vocal music, and his grandfather T.S. Sankaran taught him the venu (bamboo flute). Over the years he developed...

A stunning rendering of morning Raag Todi set in the ground of The Rajbari Bawali near Kolkata. Mukherjee is revered for his extraordinary command of the sitar and surbahar - at age 22 veena maestro S Balachander described him as the ‘sitar artist of the century’. He first started learning from h...

Kaushiki sings the evocative Raag Jaunpuri in the Kolkata botanic gardens at sunrise for an exclusive Darbar on location shoot. Despite being bitten by mosquitos her focus remained unwavered as she meanders through the alaap to the bandish. During the recording a crowd of regular walkers and runn...

Filmed as a farmhouse in Mulshi, Mevundi sings as the rain falls Raag Brindavani Sarang. Accompanying is Dhattatray Bhave (tabla) and Leeladhar Chakradev (harmonium). Born in Hubli, his initial training began at home, informally singing bhajans and other devotional music. He recounts that “there ...

Pandit Ramkumar and Samit Mallick are leading exponents of the Darbhanga dhrupad court music tradition, named for a former state near the Nepalese border. It is said that their ancestors once ended a drought in the area through singing the rain-bringing Raag Megh, and the family still live on lan...

Early morning in spring Jayateerth Mevundi borrows one of the Darbar teams jumpers as it is too cold to sing. He warms up and goes straight into Raag Bhatiar. Mevundi is one of the Kirana gharana’s leading vocalists. Born in Hubli, his initial training began at home, informally singing bhajans an...

As the sun rises over the ocean waves, maestro Shashank Subramanyan performs a meditative and sublime awakening of Raga Sarasangi - a total immersion in nature and just how music should be experienced.

Born to a biochemist father in the extraordinarily musical village of Rudrapatna, Shashank Su...

Sahana Banerjee explores Raag Yaman in this 8 minute 44 second presentation of Darbar’s On Location series. Sahana Banerjee is an exponent of the Rampur Senia Gharana and has learned Sitar from her father, Pt. Santosh Banerjee who held an important position as faculty at the Ravindra Bharati Uni...

Pandit Prattyush Banerjee pushes the boundaries of the modern sarod, combining superb solo musicianship with innovations in composition and instrument design. He plays the carnatic Raga Pratapavarali on location near Kolkata

Young dhrupad singer Pelva Naik sings a candlelit solo rendition of Raag Jog, replete with slow slides, meditative microtones, and patient melodic elaboration. At age 17 she found an instant bond with dhrupad when Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar gave a workshop at her school

Abhisek Lahiri is a gharana-blending young sarod player, who fuses ideas from the Shahjahanpur, Maihar, and Senia Bangash traditions. Abhisek Lahiri plays the auspicious Raag Malkauns, said to have been composed by the goddess Parvati to soothe Lord Shiva’s tandav dance of destruction.

Jayateerth Mevundi is one of the Kirana gharana’s leading vocalists. Born in Hubli, he received instruction from Arjunsa Nakod for over a decade, and later trained with Shripati Padigar, a disciple of Bhimsen Joshi

Indrani Mukherjee holds the tradition of the Kirana-Rampur gharana and thumri in Purab Ang. Mukherjee performs Raag Multani in the afternoon on location in the village of Bawali, West Bengal as locals watch on her performance with amazement.

Multani is a popular afternoon raga. It draws from To...