Guided Listening | Raga Desh | Pandit Nikhil Banerjee

Рет қаралды 4,347

Күн бұрын

Pandit Nikhil Banerjee
Pandit Mahapurush Misra
Raga Desh
Namaskar, everyone 🙏🏼
3 months since the last video! Man, I dipped out from social media pretty heavily the last few months. It started during the holidays, but just kinda continued after that 🤷🏽‍♂️...
I have really appreciated the kind, and thoughtful feedback for these past few videos. Obviously many of you feel like me, and have wanted to have these kinds of resources. Awesome! I am definitely looking at how to make them more concise, but I suppose the music itself is a testament to the human spirit of long-form art. I guess not everything needs to be 30 seconds, haha.
Thanks to everyone who has been watching and writing (comments, emails, everything). I apologize for the late replies these past months.
I do not post often "enough" as is, but working on changing that. This video has been sitting since November 2023; this is why I mention the festival season starting up at the end.
This recording was a free, live, Zoom class taught through our Ali Akbar College of Music. I started these during the pandemic to help create more community spaces for lovers of the music, and students.
This is the link to the full video, posted by Steven Baigel ji:
• Nikhil Banerjee and Ma...
Time Stamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:23 - Raga Info
7:16 - Desh vs. Desh Malhar
9:05 - Tangent I: Gats & Potential Contradictions
11:22 - Tangent II: Taans
14:27 - Back to Desh vs Desh Malhar
15:48 - Questions for the Recording
16:43 - Concert
17:32 - Tanpura Tuning & N/n Dissonance
20:31 - Concert (Actually)
27:19 - Discussion (Komal Ni, Ornaments, Context, Zamzama, Presence, Sam)
35:22 - Concert
40:06 - Shuddh Ni & How to Avoid the Antara
46:30 - Exploring Nuances
49:43 - Concert
54:21 - Taking A Line As A Practice Tool
56:35 - Question About: P N S R G R
57:26 - Concert
1:00:20 - Taan & Slowing Down & Part-Practice Ideas
1:02:59 - Concert
01:04:20 - End of Alap into Gat
01:04:58 - Concert (Jhaptal)
01:06:59 - Formatting A Concert
01:09:13 - Concert
01:12:30 - How We Can Use the Re to Get to Ni/ni & Traps in Studying Recordings
01:15:26 - Concert
01:17:30 - Line Design & Interplay
01:18:26 - Concert
01:26:33 - Final Thoughts (Practice, Importance of Listening)
FIN
With my love and pranam 🌸🙏🏼🌸

Пікірлер: 92

@stevenb_space6808 4 ай бұрын

Hello Manik. Thank you for this! I am very happy you have given a tutorial on this great performance. Btw I don't know if you know I am the one who after a lot of effort, time and money, tracked down the original recording of this performance, had it digitally preserved, and then posted it on youtube so all could experience it. Someone else then copied my post and put it up as his own without any accreditation or acknowledgement of what it took to get it here. Anyhow, congratulations on this. Steven Baigel

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Oh no! Wait! Steven ji, is the account I linked in the description a different Steven B? That’s not you??? That’s crazy… I’m going to pin your comment, so others can hopefully see what you wrote and support your hard work. Thanks so much for helping this recording come to light. It is fantastic! This one is incredibly special, so 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

@MusiGig 3 ай бұрын

Ahh.. I knew it was you Steven... who else could it be! Once again heartfelt thanks, maybe this is the alaap I want to hear before breathing my last in this life.

@megamondocane 15 күн бұрын

Dear Mister Manik Khan, THANK YOU very much for your videos. The way you are making people around the world to FEEL/UNDERSTAND the music of this divine instrument. I discovered the sitar many years ago by the music of Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka and later I discovered many other musicians from the Hindu civilisation. But none theme is , for my heart, as important as Nikhil Banerjee. For my heart Nikhil Banerjee is a Jiddu Krishnamurti of music. From Bucharest- Romania, NAMASTE!

@ameyaxoxo 6 күн бұрын

Thank you Manik for making such a wonderful video. I have enjoyed learning through your guided lessons alongside your incredibly inspiring sarod playing. Would love for this to become a series and discover more Ragas in this way!

@pressosk7480 4 ай бұрын

As a student of Indian classical music, these explainers are extremely informative. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insights - looking forward to many more such videos 🙌🏼

@baijanqaadri111 4 ай бұрын

These are absolutely brilliant explorations of indian classical music. A beautiful bridge between many of us born in North America trying to find their home within traditions their own but still distant from understanding. Please continue Manik. Love from Toronto.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Man, this is quite powerful. Thanks for sharing that. It is a deep part of our cultural heritage, and I can certainly relate to that space you’re describing. Love from the Bay 🙌🏼

@rajobratadas8799 4 ай бұрын

Please continue the series. I was randomly recommended this video by KZfaq, so the algo is working. This is extremely useful for beginners like us who are learning 🙏

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

That’s super helpful to know! I would really like to get into a two-week per video timeline. I’m working on getting faster at editing, but let’s see. I absolutely appreciate the feedback. Thank you! 🙏🏼

@DarshanKalola 4 ай бұрын

These are great please continue making them! Your channel is destined to grow big!

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Wah! That’s super supportive, bhai. I’m just stoked that these are resonating for others like they do for me. It feels like a sweet way to extend what my dadu and baba sought - the continual spreading of this music to everyone, yah? Anyway, your words mean a lot, so thank you for the support.

@Oboro86 4 ай бұрын

Anyway, here's Wonderwall.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Haha 😂

@krdc85 4 ай бұрын

Thank you Manik for this honest and beautiful presentation. Nikhilbabu remains in our hearts. You have paid an artist's academic tribute in a wholesome manner.

@dmavis 4 ай бұрын

Wow. Super interesting- thank you algorithm. I’m a long time listener of Indian music, but never attempted to understand in any way other than how it just somehow spoke to my white guy soul somehow. After all those years I recently began lightly studying some Indian vocals via some once a month at most classes that I spend hours getting to lol…funny how some things just draw you…anyhow, just still wrapping my head around ragas and how they work…so this provided so much insight…still very hard to follow at this stage…but truly loved it. And what a great recording you chose as well. Haven’t seen what else you have posted but looking forward to exploring and seeing what comes next 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Ayyy, the algorithm seems to be doing its thing, so that is a major positive. I really appreciate you taking the time to share all of this. On the soul side, my dad would talk about this being “food for the soul”. We don’t question that we need to eat. So, you just tapped into the intuitive side. Beautiful! With all that is available to us, we have like a never ending feast available. I’m still not that fast with editing these videos. I’ve had concerts these past weeks, but I want to have another video out either next week or possibly the week after. Anyway, thanks for the support. If you have particular questions, please feel free to let me know. I can look at including the concepts in future classes/videos 🙏🏼

@RingoLoadagain 4 ай бұрын

What a cool video series! Also, this recording of Nikhil-ji is one of my favorite sitar performances of all time, so I'm so glad you chose it! I'm not advanced enough to play Raag Desh (I only just started playing sitar last year) but I'm saving this video to rewatch later on. For now I'm just enjoying your playing your voice and your breakdown of the performance.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Ahh, thanks so much! Yah, this recording is 👌🏼 (*chef’s kiss). Advanced enough or no, at least the listening side can help with what kinds of things to practice, and what we can aspire towards. I reeeeeally love Nikhil ji’s taans in this one, and I want to sit with one of them for another video - breaking it down, and looking at how we can practice it in parts, and apply it to our own playing and possibly other ragas. This recording has so much to study and learn from - and just straight up soak in. The kind words and support are super appreciated. That’s really helpful feedback for the vibe of what you’re enjoying. Much love 🙏🏼

@arpanmhr 4 ай бұрын

PT NIKHIL BANERJEE IS BEYOND. THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO AMAZING INFORMATIVE

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Right? He is incredibly special. Blows my mind every time that we can just sit and listen to pure magic at will. Thanks very much for the support, bhai 🙏🏼

@arpanmhr 4 ай бұрын

@@_manikkhan 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 pranam

@ericboberic 4 ай бұрын

These videos you're making are super valuable for every student and lover of Hindustani Classical Music - thank you very much and I hope you keep it up :)

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much, Eric. I really appreciate the feedback and support. I’m working on getting faster at editing them. More to come.

@ericboberic 4 ай бұрын

@@_manikkhan I look forward to more of them!

@adam10008 3 ай бұрын

This is such a treat thanks for doing this. I’ve been hoping someone would start to do this with ICM. It’s made my day finding this…. Please do continue with these videos 😊🙏

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for letting me know. I had plans to release more within a couple weeks of this video, but somehow it’s been over a month. I had some more ideas about this particular recording I wanted to explore, mainly breaking down one of the taans. We have our big annual concert celebration of my dad this Saturday. After that, I’ll start recording again. Thanks for the support!

@sitarbaba 4 ай бұрын

Your comments and analysis really help to elevate an already amazing performance. Thank you

@Flutewalaa 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for an amazing perspective Manik. ✌🏾

@user-mg7cu6sn8f 3 ай бұрын

When it comes to Raga Desh on sitar, Nikhil Banerjee is the ultimate. Thank you for explaining it so well.

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

Seriously beautiful, right? It is pretty amazing that of that generation of sitar players, we have such distinct styles between them. We are truly lucky! And, it just goes to show the depth of the individuals within the oceans of this music. I really appreciate the support!

@rent7156 4 ай бұрын

Beautiful Manik 🎶✨🙌🏽 Thank you for sharing.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

It’s my pleasure! Thanks for watching, and taking the time to comment, brother 🌸

@ritupabankotoky 4 ай бұрын

This video is unique in its own way. I am sure it will help all the Musicians. I wish I had this kind of instructional video when I was learning Raga music.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Wah! Exactly. This was the main reason for starting these classes. I sit and study the recordings like this anyway, yet it is something I always wanted when I was growing up - examples of how to study the recordings and avoid the traps/pitfalls as a student. Are you finished with your study of raga music? Genuinely curious! Any favorite recordings?

@mohitshankar782 3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much. This is priceless

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

That’s incredibly kind of you to say! I really appreciate this 🙏🏼 More are coming - albeit slower than I had planned.

@toprakserifgozden6034 4 ай бұрын

thank you very much for making these videos.

@deepakraag 4 ай бұрын

Hi Manik. We must get you here in Toronto. I was close to both your father and Nikhil babu. So nice to see you and hear you.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Ji, I’m actually heading your way for a ‘Terrace Concert’ event on June 23rd. It’s an afternoon program - I think like 1-6 pm. I’ll have more details soon, but something to keep in mind. I should be out there in a few months. Would love to hear more 🙏🏼

@sachdhanjal37 4 ай бұрын

This is excellent! Thank you for sharing. Brilliant content.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

I really appreciate it! Thanks so much for the support. We are all in this together, right?

@sangeetprabhaker 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for this video Manik, I've been looking for a channel like this

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

You’re so welcome! I’m glad there are others who it resonated with. So many ways of going about listening. I’m switching up the class to focus on individual lines and deconstructing them for the next number of weeks. Hopefully they can be turned into videos for KZfaq. Let’s see. Thanks for letting me know 🌸

@caiomurakami1370 4 ай бұрын

Thank you Manik! Greetings from Brazil!

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

Greetings!!! Belatedly though… Thanks for taking the time to write on here. It’s much much appreciated 🙌🏼

@shishirmaharana4022 4 ай бұрын

Fantastic analysis, Manik bhai. Keep up the good work!

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much, bhai! I really appreciate it, of course. I’m glad it’s coming through nicely. So much information to try and process - let alone go over. I mean, at the end of the day, it’s Nikhil ji, so it’s just super enjoyable to explore his performances no matter what.

@nrao8977 4 ай бұрын

Namaskar.

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Namaskar 🙏🏼

@twinklestar8275 4 ай бұрын

🙏🙏🙏

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

@xaviganjam 4 ай бұрын

wow... great video bro ¡

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Thanks so much, bhai! Cheers 🙌🏼

@mtmnp 4 ай бұрын

@_manikkhan thank you so much for these videos - deciphering what performers are playing and presenting and linking it to techniques that as students we have learnt but not mastered how to implement is priceless 🙏🏽

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Cheers! It’s definitely an important process. Baba, my older brothers, etc - everyone kept repeating throughout my life to listen and study these recordings. It was essential to my development, absolutely. One goal with these was to make available the kinds of resources I wished I had more of when I was younger - how to help focus the study, listening together.

@chandraiyer1710 4 ай бұрын

This is some of the most valuable insight. Can you do Bhimpalasi next? Thats what im studying with my guru right now. Im a noob and id appreciate it

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Haha, we all must embrace being a noob at some point. I love it. I mean, my baba never stopped learning, so I suppose it’s all a spectrum anyway. I may start recording these outside of the classes. I haven’t done afternoon ragas in a long time, since the class is in the evenings. It’s one of my favorites, so that would be sweet. Thanks for the support, bhai 🙌🏼

@Pfjsyute 4 ай бұрын

Thank you so much. What an exciting time it is to be learning this music! ❤

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

💯% agreed. It’s definitely a different time, but these resources are straight up gifts we just get to have again and again. How special 🌸

@christopherherrmann921 3 ай бұрын

These sceanes are just insane

@malkaons 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for taking the time. Really enjoyed the recording and the commentary.

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for taking the time to share this. I really appreciate the feedback here. That is great to know!

@abhisheksitar 4 ай бұрын

Such a great explanation videos! I had such a great time and learnt a great deal. Thank you!

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Cheers, Abhishek bhai. I really appreciate it. That is great to hear! You’re welcome, of course 🌸

@abhisheksitar 4 ай бұрын

@@_manikkhan hearing back from you is great! This particular skill “guided listening” is perhaps such a valuable thing and exploring the intricacies with such fine detailing as you do, is absolutely priceless. I hope we can do it live some day where the audience can hear this live with you with the pauses to explain what was played, central ideas, things to note, things to practice after a breakdown. This will immensely increase understanding of this fine arts.

@ravanvaran 4 ай бұрын

Manik Dada … Love your detailed analyses in these guided listening sessions! I listened to that part where you explained the Shuddha Nishad being on the Tanpura and yet NOT sounding dissonant, over and over again. What occured to me (it’s just my observation, please correct me if I’m wrong) is that the Shuddha Nishad on Tanpura is followed by the Shadaj. So when the Komal Nishad is played, what we get is a cumulative effect of Shuddha Nishad - Shadaj - Komal Nishad, which follows the rule of Raag Desh and hence goes unnoticed as a Dissonance, or even sounds beautiful on the other hand!

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Hey bhai, The tanpura does indeed have S after the N. At least, that was what I was hearing as well. I mean, it ultimately is subjective too. To me, when I’m playing in C (or have my sarod’s jawari tuned “normally” - N R G S) - it sounds pretty intense with the komal ni. For Nikhilji though, it only seems really present at certain points in his concert - one of the reasons I wanted to highlight it. It feels like it should be more stark, but he just makes it work. That’s one of the parts I love about these recordings. So many examples. I’d say sit with it and see what you feel/hear, yah? Thanks for taking the time to share this!

@hexbeat9832 4 ай бұрын

Wonderful, informative video, thank you.

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

That’s really helpful to know. Thanks for sharing that! You’re welcome, of course 🙏🏼

@MonkPartyMusic 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Manikji 🙏great video! Love the breakdown and your approach to listening :)

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

You’re most welcome! Thanks a lot for watching, and sharing that feedback. Please just call me bhai, haha 🙏🏼

@samareshchakravarti1283 3 ай бұрын

I heard a comments from from one of the great song composer that First you you practice for 100 times, then you will feel that you can very swiftly you can follow, the nodes and antibodies he is making and you will be able to follow your master.

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

My baba would often tell us to “be like my shadow” when we were sitting and learning alap - following him note after note, line after line. I feel like that 100 times could easily become 1000, or 10000+ times 😮‍💨 Thanks for sharing this!

@ridwanrahman2465 4 ай бұрын

What an AMAZING explanation addressing so many of the intricacies, please make a guided listening video with one of Pandit Ravi Shankar Ji's recording too (preferably Yaman Kalyan), It will help us learners alot. My humble pranams to you 🙏🙏🙏

@_manikkhan 4 ай бұрын

Wah! Thank you 🙏🏼 I’ve wanted to sit with one for Ravi ji. He has this Alhaiya Bilawal that is just beautiful. So many nice lines, and that would be so nice to explore and break down. I’ll add your suggestion to the list. Any particular recording?

@ridwanrahman2465 4 ай бұрын

@@_manikkhan Thank you so much for your reply 🙏 (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n7J6rNmh1MCVnqs.htmlsi=yhOs1g9oWsDxX35A) This particular rendition of Yaman Kalyan is very close to my heart though the quality of the recording might not be the best it is an absolute gem 🤍🙏 Also the surbahar duet rendition of Yaman Kalyan by Pandit Ji and Maa Annapurna (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hLp2gNJ5vMXIgoE.htmlsi=3wi37MQNBn-rvrzK) is also another gem ❤️ so any of these two would be perfect!

@archismanbiswas4403 4 ай бұрын

@@_manikkhan For Raviji, of course his Yaman Kalyan renditions are just magic and his taste of the raga was just something different. His renditions of Darbari (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nbGgq7SdktPdmHk.html&pp=ygUUcmF2aSBzaGFua2FyIGRhcmJhcmk%3D) and Todi (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pdimdbODvcnYlpc.html&pp=ygURcmF2aSBzaGFua2FyIHRvZGk%3D) are also some of my favorites. And such things can rarely be heard in today's era. Also, I'm sure there are plenty of rich pieces of Raviji and Khansaheb together!

@virajrastogi2421 Ай бұрын

Hi Manik. can you please do one of these guided listenings for a recording in kirwani please ?

@_manikkhan Ай бұрын

Hey there! Ahh, I’m sorry that I’ve been MIA on the video uploads. There is this one recording of Kirwani of my baba’s that I love dearly, and have been thinking to go over it again. I’m adding it to the list 🙌🏼

@dangerouslyundefined925 4 ай бұрын

Thanks Manik for these videos. Really great insights. Just wondering something about sarod tunning. All the charts Ive see show the sarod taraf scale as including both the komal and shuddas ga’s ma’s and ni’s. Did Baba keep his tarafs tuned the same way for all the ragas? Ie. say if he was playing rag durga i was wondering if the tarafs would still be tuned to the full scale including all the komals?

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for the support! You’re welcome, of course. That’s a great question. There seemed to be a general tuning of those sympathetic strings that baba followed. From lowest to highest: [D S R g G m M P D n N S R G m] That’s a low D at the beginning up to high S R G m at the end. Then, depending on the raga, we would switch certain notes. So, in Bhairavi for example: [d S r g G m M P d n N S r g m] Baba definitely experimented with other tunings throughout his life, but I haven’t tried necessarily to figure them out each time. Chandranandan recordings sometimes I feel like have different tunings in those strings. Now, his jawari changed a lot! Like Jog maybe using: [n g G S] instead of the general [N R G S]. I hope this helps answer the question. I’m going stream o’ consciousness at the moment. Let me know if that doesn’t make sense. All the best 🙌🏼

@agniparvata Ай бұрын

Great video! Sorry to ask, but which is the media-player program used on the video? Looks very nice and functional.

@_manikkhan Ай бұрын

Thanks so much! Nothing to apologize for. The program is called ‘Chronotron’. I think it’s still only available on Windows though. I’ve also used Ableton, Amazing Slow Downer, Audacity, and even VLC has some features to help with studying. If you meant for the actual video though, I used OBS to stream to Zoom when I was teaching this class. I used the recording from OBS to edit for KZfaq. I hope that answers your question 🙏🏼

@agniparvata 29 күн бұрын

@@_manikkhan Many thanks! Just tried it and indeed it is a great program. (I'm in Europe and hence on Windows, so it's just the best for me). Eagerly waiting for your guided listening episode on Pt.Ravi Shankar, I'm his only European disciple having been learnt 32 years with him, so I'd be truly interested.

@josephmitchell321 3 ай бұрын

Hi, Can you please let me know what program you're using to change the key/ analyze these ragas? Thanks in advance

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

Hey hey, I’m using one called ‘Chronotron’. I love it because of their looping function and tempo adjustment for videos. The caveat is that it’s Windows only at the moment. I’m usually tuned to C, so often I pitch the recordings to that, but for this one I just tuned to C# to match Nikhil ji. For audio only, I also have ‘Amazing Slow Downer’ which I use on my phone pretty much every day for looping tanpura recordings. I’m pretty sure I could do this all in Ableton or another DAW too, but this is basically plug in and play, you know? Hopefully that helps 🙌🏼

@kushalsomani 4 ай бұрын

3:40 4:20

@Surbahar1984 4 ай бұрын

Dhrut Gat is an amalgamation of Two Different Gharana or Style of Sitar playing .... Who can say?

@_manikkhan 3 ай бұрын

You know, that’s an interesting point. I never learned that gat, and it also stuck out to me when he played it. I do not know if he composed it, or heard it somewhere else, or learned it from dadu. It definitely has a different swing to it. I ran out of time in the class for that part of the concert, but I would have liked to have gone over that too.

@Surbahar1984 3 ай бұрын

@@_manikkhanBhai It is an amalgamation of Ustad Enayat Khan and Ustad Mushtak Ali Khan Sahab. As I, had the rare opportunity to learn both the bandish from two different masters of Yesteryears Respectively Acharya Kashinath Mukherjee and Netai Bose

@aritradas2211 7 күн бұрын

Hello Manik Bhai! I truly appreciate your outstanding video. Please keep up this format so we can benefit from your insightful explanations and narrations of performances by these Indian music stalwarts. I request you to cover following performances in future. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jqmefaSirrXXZWg.html&pp=ygUMbWFuamgga2hhbWFq kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qZ1drMZpqbXciI0.html&pp=ygUbbWFuamgga2hhbWFqIGFubmFwdXJuYSBkZXZp kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aN-dhs2dvq_aeWg.html&pp=ygUdcmFnYSB5YW1hbiBrYWx5YW4gYW5kIG1lZGhhdmk%3D