Search - Sayeeduddin Dagar :: Lineage of Dhrupad

Incredibly powerful

a customer | earth | 11/14/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"i don't know if all these Dagar brothers are one family or not but everything with the name Dagar on it is unbelievably good



i got into zia mohiuddin dagar first, who plays rudra veena unlike anyone else i've heard (except his students) . he achieves such a deep tone, sometimes menacing and dark, other times contemplatively beautiful and delicate. i feel like i had not heard ragas properly before hearing him .



then i heard zia and his brother performing raga chandrakauns, one of my favorites. amazing! the deep voice of the rudra veena, the smooth singing voice of the brother, and later the packawaj (sp?) rolling across the landscape . something to experience .



then i heard wasifuddin dagar's renditions of malkauns (another favorite) and chandrakauns . not as moving for some reason but perhaps they will grow on me .



sayeeduddin dagar's renditions here are great . this dhrupad style really allows the inner quality and spirit of the raga to unveil itself . some musicians burst into it too fast like a western piano classical recital or something . these guys make this sacred . this is music to play at funerals, gravely serious and contemplative. it's not lighthearted entertainment. this is an interactive experience. you can't hear it and remain separate, you either flow with it or feel estranged from it.



one thing i find most interesting about this music is its timeless quality. this is a modern recording but it sounds as if it could be fresh from 1000 years ago. the sound of the tambura is ancient and i think universally understood in a very deep sense. the drone keeps you centered, like a pole in the ground, or like the center of a circle.



i had previously thought that pandit pran nath was the darkest and most gravely serious indian classical singer i had heard. i was wrong, because some of these dhrupad renditions make pran nath sound like pop music. well, that's not true, but it still makes me wonder why he didn't get into this style, seems that it would have suited him, since he was already known for being notoriously slow and deliberate in unfolding the raga."