My Favourate Raga
Rajhesh Vaidya: Charukesi is special to me
"Every raga is fine, but
three touch my heart.
Whenever I play
them, I am terribly
moved. They have an enormous
power over me. Sindhubhairavi,
emits peace and Bhakti. Charukesi,
is of course, very special to
me, for one it's my wife's name
and what is more, it generates a
kind of pathos which touches
the innermost chords of my
heart," begins Rajhesh Vaidya,
veena player.
"Rasikapriya is a fantastic, romantic
raga. It takes me back
five years in time when I played
a film song in this raga composed
by Vidya Sagar. The song
was `Ding Dong Koyilmani,'
from the movie `Ji' and it was a
great hit.
Magical process
"Ragas overwhelm me and for
me they are a magical process of
self-revelation when a new vocabulary
is born which often
syncs with a particular image. I
experimented five ragas in an
album called `Feel Five' and
played them on the veena with
very little percussion added,
just for atmosphere.
The result was stupendous.
"Ragas such as Pantuvarali,
Gowri manohari, Sindhubhairavi,
Sankarabharnam and
Chakaravaham also have their
expressive symbols and succeed
in creating an atmosphere
of peace and relaxation. In my
most recent venture with Vikram
Ghosh for Rhythm Scape, I
chanced to perform patriotic
songs with Jagjit Singh, Turbayan
Chatterji and Vikram
Ghosh himself, thus enlarging
my raga repertoire," he
concludes.
JYOTI NAIR BELLIAPPA
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