“By turns, essay, memoir and cultural study, 'Finding the Raga' is Amit Chaudhuri's singular account of his discovery of, and enduring passion for, North Indian music: an ancient, evolving tradition whose principles and practices will alter the reader's notion of what music might – and can - be.” – Google Books
Amit Chaudhuri is an Indian English-language novelist, poet, essayist, musicologist and performing musician. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009. He is a Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia, and since 2020, he also teaches at Ashoka University, India as a Professor of Creative Writing. In September 2020, he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Modern Language Association (MLA). His most notable awards are the Sahitya Akademi Award among a host of other literary prizes and recognitions.
Amit Chaudhuri was born in Kolkata in 1962 and grew up in Mumbai. He took his first degree in English Literature from the University College London and was awarded his Doctorate from Balliol College, Oxford University. Born to illustrious parents, his mother was a highly acclaimed singer, specifically in the Rabindra Sangeet genre. In addition to his academic credentials, Amit Chaudhuri is a practitioner of Hindustani Khayal music for which he trained under his guru Pandit Govind Prasad Jaipurwale.
Under the auspices of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London, Vibhaker Baxi, Chairman & Managing Director of London based Navras Records interviewed Amit Chaudhuri to discuss the aspects of Indian music dealt with in the book and beyond that. The book is not a primer in the study of Indian (specifically Hindustani) classical music but gives fascinating insights into the related concepts as interpreted by the author.
Music to an Indian is not a passion on the side, like a hobby. No Indian social and family occasion is untouched by music. From birth through the passage of life, seasons, happy and sad occasions, festivals of seasons and mythology, to the end of life – music encompasses an Indian’s life and its sensibilities. The time cycle and seasonal character of the Hindustani ragas and the manifestations of the nine rasas – moods or emotions -(Nav Rasas) speak to this omnipotent presence of music in our lives and our differing moods. Even our feature films are almost always musicals distilling the storyline with great effectiveness, emotion and as an integral part of our natural being. Even our classical music is an amalgam of spiritual and folk music of our country.
There is an informative discussion on what is a raga, its character and attributes, the enunciation of the melody, interpretation of the notes, the grammar and deployment of virtuosity in performances. There is also a discussion on different schools of presentation of the same genre and compositions. The conversation ends with a discussion on the future of Indian Classical Music.
This conversation can be viewed on The Bhavan’s YouTube channel.
