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 lightning speed at Darbar Festival 2014.

Niladri Kumar is known for his expansive modern sitar style, stretching the boundaries of classical music. Trained under his father, a disciple of Ravi Shankar, he was recognised as a prodigy. He has since developed an extraordinary technical command of his instrument, complete with dextrous double stops, whispering string bends, and rapid taans [fast improvised lines]. He makes forays into film composition and is the inventor of the ‘zitar’ - a hybrid of electric guitar and sitar. Today he tours extensively with Zakir Hussain’s groups as well as a solo artist.

Bhimpalasi is an afternoon raga, said to evoke sringara [attraction, romantic love]. It uses the notes of Kafi thaat, with an aroha [ascent] of nSgmPnS and an avroh [descent] of SnDPmgRS. Characteristically, Dha and Re only appear in the descending line, and tend to be approached from the notes immediately above. Ma is the vadi [king note]. It is similar in shape to the Western Dorian mode, and the closest Carnatic raga is Abheri.

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