Customer Reviews

The Raga Guide: Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This set of four cds is an extraordinary collection to get introduced to the richness of Indian classical music. One can get the basic 'chalan' (movement) of as many as 74 ragas. One can argue that the expositions are too short to bring out all the nuances of a raga, but that's not the purpose of these performances.

The best thing about the performers is that they kept things simple, yet enjoyable.

One suggestion though. Rather than arranging the ragas alphabetically, it could have been better arranged by the time of the day they are supposed to be played. That's just my humble opinion.

Raga Guide comes with a ~200 page book with explanation of taal and brief background on hindustani music and scores for each raag. It is a great text for beginners esp. those with exposure to reading musical scores. If you can't read music, that's okay too, there is good explanation on how the scores are written. If you followed/aware of the raag kosh for hindustani ragas, this would be the logical multimedia extension to the raag kosh. Each raag lasts only about 3mins, so these CD's (which supplement the text) are strictly for learning and not for easy listening. All in all, I think this is a wonderful piece from Nimbus records and it is about time someone took the intiative to make learning hindustani music so lucid. I give it five stars as a learning tool.

Please read the other reviews for clarity of musicology. What I'm here to talk about is the quality of this production and the reference material which accompanies it.

You receive 4 CD's and a guide to raga. Not just a plastic cd jewel case with some foldout but a guidebook.

The information contained in the guidebook is a wonderful resource. The whole package is very similar to a college textbook with media.

The sound quality is top shelf. Again, this is a quality production.

Enjoy

This is a great review of 74 Indian Ragas with their history and "chalan" with Indian and Western musical notations. The creators of this item clearly must have put in years of effort to create it. I don't know of any similar compilation of this magnitude. However, there are a few minor shortfalls. The book should have been in a larger size, larger font, and better binding to compliment the great efforts of its editors. The music could have been a little longer than three minutes. I hope they come out with volume #2 with these changes with other ragas like Mand, Bairagi, Bengal Bhairav, and such. Still, this collection is a must for a serious student of Indian classical music.

This is a solid compilation and would be a great reference or a gift. The artists featured are top-notch: Buddhadev Dasgupta, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, etc., The text is concise and helpful. The quality of the recordings is excellent and I loved the colourful booklet.
However, the 74 ragas performed are not full-fledged performances as such but more like short demo pieces, so an expert listener may not enjoy it as much - but then again the average listener probably would not appreciate a 75 minute performance of Raga Multani anyway.

I am a student of indian classical music. This book and cd is very interesting and quite well made for an overview of the pillars of indian classical music. For the everyday person exploring the genre, looking for a wide range of material and songs that are not full length this is a great buy. It is well made and recorded with great artists. The book has wonderful information for each of the raags. For those with more knowledge of what raags, artists and instruments they prefer to listen to will find that much of the music feels stunted or incomplete as they are very short but very nice recordings.

Even though I am of Indian descent, I have had very little experience with classical Indian music. The Raga Guide is truly an amazing set. I have not been able to listen to anything else since I bought it. It is my favorite CD of the year.

A fantastic piece of work! This is the book I've been waiting for since I started studying Indian classical music three years ago. The most useful aspect is the notation of the alap for all of the ragas presented, which one can follow as one listens. This is excellent training for sight reading and for recognising notes.

Excellent recording, excellent presentation. Artists are superb. No problem with the CDs. A real gift to Indian Music lovers. There is no comparable audio document on the market. The book is a short and clear introduction to Raga system (184 pages. 40 color plates from 1610 and 1650 paintings). Thank to Nimbus Records and the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music.

The Raga guide is a portal to a world of exquisite beauty. Chaurasia on flute and buddhadev das gupta on Sarod churn raga after raga in an unending merry go round of enchantment .The vocalists especially pandit vyas touch human chords as never before. A must have for those seeking a deeper meaning of life and the inner peace and beauty of Hindustani classical music. This is one treasure that must not be missed.