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Adrenochromalune - Raag Chandrakalyanishiki - Homage To Nikhil Banerjee

from Raag & Bone by Crowyote

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Raag Chandrakalyanishiki is my contribution to the American Primitive Guitar style in homage to Pandit Nikhil Banerjee of the Maihar Gharana. Much like the raga which inspired this creation - Nikhil Banerjee’s “Chandrakaushiki” - Chandrakalyanishiki can be analyzed as an audhav-sampoorna (pentatonic ascending - septatonic descending ) raga. Most of the ascending phrases are in Chandrakauns ( R m3 P4 m6 M7) but with an occasional inclusion of Pancham (P5) as a meend note to Dhaivat (m6) and an occasional rise to Rishabh (M2) before resolution on Shadaj (Root). Yaman Kalyan phrases are accessed by using murchana (modulation) to transform the Sa (root) into the Ni (Major 7th) of Yaman.

The tuning, G minor down a full step CFCFAbC, makes it possible to switch between the feeling of the two distinct ragas smoothly. In Chandrakauns, the C and F are considered drone notes (Sa-R & Ma-P4 for some gharanas) that match with those of Yaman (Ni-M7 and Ga-M3). Cadences in Yaman often resolve in descent with the phrase “Ni Re Sa” (M7 M2 Root in Yaman or R m3 m2 in Chandra-K). Thus a minor 2nd is introduced into descending/cadential phrases of Chandrakalyanishiki emphasizing the Yaman feel. This raga does not bear much resemblance to the Lydian mode, which many Westerners think of as Yaman, besides a few odd phrases here and there as the Augmented 4th has been used to ascend to the P5 or m6 - another artifact exhumed from studying NB’s Chandrakaushiki.

Chandrakalyanishiki:

Aaroh (ascending):

Sa Ga Ma Dha Ni Re Sa
Root m3 P4 m6 M7 M2 R

Avroh (descending):
Sa Ni Pa dha Ma Ga Ni re Sa
Root M7 P5 m6 P4 m3 M7 m2 R

Like Ali Akbar Khan’s canonical Chandranandan ( Aaroh: S g m d N S Avroh: S n d P m g N S roughly the Hindustani equivalent of a harmonic/melodic minor hybrid), phrases can be combined in any order and at the discernment of the performer. Sadly, Nikhil Banerjee did not live long enough to cement Chandrakaushiki into the canon of Hindustani Classical music besides his single recorded performance, which I consider his finest and most deeply enigmatic performance.

I navigate the Hindustani Classical and Carnatic repertoire solely with my ears, and studying various texts, websites and online tutorials without a guru - I cannot claim this to be a true interpretation of Banerjee’s creation or a valid Hindustani Raag. It’s only the semblance of one, an homage to the master who inspired it.

This was a live video on IG that has been further edited in Vegas Pro with text and titles. The audio was severely compressed in the IG rendering format, so it has been remastered with IK's TR5 suite and Izotope Ozone. The audio is available for purchase on crowyote.bandcamp.com as part of the collection "Raag & Bone." Namaste, blessings, peace unto you, and thanks for listening!

credits

from Raag & Bone, released September 15, 2020
PBN, Taylor 352ce pre-V class

Special Thanks to Kontejas for lending his ears.

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Crowyote Dallas, Texas

Crowyote is the alter-ego, the other of Perry Brooks Nichols, an artist and musician based in Dallas, TX. In 2003, an ancient shaman guided him through the portal of time and showed him his nature through the smoke. I seek to clear the fog, shatter stylistic modalities and challenge the accepted conventions of performance, execution and technique by juxtaposing new technology and old traditions. ... more

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