RagaJazz

Report

My early experiments with crossover from raga to jazz styles. The pieces were recorded from 1996-1999 and include a cross-section of styles.

Gopinath Jazz: A 20-minute free jazz improvisation with piano and flute played over a repeating bass line. It is loosely based on 'Gopinath,' a popular Bengali devotional song. I wanted to take a popular spiritual song and give it an added psychedelic dimension as experienced by a true mystic. Gopinath is in an ecstatic, almost operatic style and when performed in Bengal, always moves people to tears because of its tragic theme of separation from the Beloved. The song was recorded in a single take in about an hour and a half. It is the first RagaJazz recording I ever made. Just a sample of the lyrics translated from the original Bengali: 'O Gopinath, please hear my prayer. I am a wicked materialist, always addicted to worldly pleasures, and I have no good qualities. O Gopinath, You are my only hope, and so I have taken shelter at Your feet as Your eternal servant... O Gopinath, weeping and weeping, this sinner begs for an eternal place at Your divine feet. Please grant him Your causeless mercy...'

Khammaj: This is a long composition (about 20 min.) based on Raga Khammaj. It begins with a pentatonic flute and zither free improv that goes through a transition to a heptatonic and then a chromatic jazz section in a 6-beat African rhythm.This cut is part of the larger Vrndavan-lila cycle of sacred song and dance. It is a dance that tells a story of the spirit world. A sadhu takes a spiritual journey, flying through the clouds. He has to pass through a dimensional gateway where he is tested. Then he hears a call from the spirit world. He follows this call and finds himself in an ecstatic dance with God. This is an attempt to depict experiences I had in my spiritual training in India. I created the concept for the song in 1998. It took about 15 hours to record and mix the entire 20-minute piece.

Sandhya Vibhasa: A long RagaJazz composition based on Raga Vibhasa. It begins with an improvisation between the flute and zither that expresses the quiet time before sunrise. There is no fifth (Pa). The sky is lightening and something is about to happen. Radha and Krsna are forced to separate and return to their homes. As They hurry home, They feel strong separation and have stunning flashbacks of the previous night's ecstatic loving pastimes. Somehow They recover enough to make the journey. The jazz part is in 12 (not 4/4 triplets but a real 12-beat tala). It overlays a diminished tonality on the raga scale. This cut is the best model yet for the RagaJazz style and it is a good expression of the moods of Vrndavan-lila based on my spiritual experiences.

Production

Artist: David Bruce Hughes

Producer: Harinam Arts Productions

Writer: David Bruce Hughes

Categories

Tags: spiritual instrumental jazz fusion meditative raga

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