Raga - Indian Classical Music

Every person in India, irrespective of his/her association with music has in some way or the other, encountered the term Raga and knows it to be a term associated with Indian Music. Actually, if the entirety of Indian Music has to be summed up in one word, it is ‘Raga’. Yes, Indian Classical Music is invariably Raga music.

Raga is a melody – everyone knows that. But what only a handful of learners and practitioners of Indian Classical Music know, is the fact that Ragas are living entities of sound, a robust and powerful medium of expressing one’s mood - happy, romantic, devotional, calm/soothed, angry, longing/yearning, tensed/restless, and sad. The notes(sur) and the rhythm(taal) are components capable enough to carry the performer and the listener into a transcendental experience of the powers of sound!

Sudhanshu Sharma has been one of the performers and teachers trying to experiment, enquire and awaken the mood inherent in Raga music. He believes that Indian music is nothing, but Raga music and Raga music is mood music which has a high emotional quotient. He believes that acquiring the mastery of a raga has three steps – the first one is getting acquainted and taking hold of the notes(sur) incorporated in the raga. Next we have the task of practicing the notes repeatedly to assimilate them into our mind and action. The last and the final step, which is also a never-ending journey, is to blend the sounds and rhythm into one’s Soul. The ceaseless communion among the notes, thought and processed cleverly in the mind and then let out through the heart – the step-by-step process of formulating the vastness and the grandeur of a Raga.

Sudhanshu Sharma practices what he believes and that’s why his music sessions endeavor to create a dense, rich and radiant structure of the Raga, and nothing else! As a teacher, he also holds the opinion that the rich legacy of Indian classical Music can be preserved and propagated through a prolonged and rapid communication between the teacher and the student, studying and practicing together in solitude. That’s the reason he has come up with beautiful retreats of music where he and his students get to spend weeks together, trying to understand and master the intricacies of this vast art. It is said that one lifetime is not enough to cover the vastness of Indian Classical Music and it is all about the journey and not the destination. He enjoys the journey thoroughly and makes efforts to carry his students/listeners along with him in this wonderful path.

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Created on Apr 10th 2020 07:36. Viewed 554 times.

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