DHRUPAD FANTASIA

A MEETING BETWEEN THE ENGLAND OF ELIZABETH I AND THE DHRUPAD TRADITION AT THE INDIAN MOGOL COURT OF AKBAR

Dhrupad is the oldest and purest genre within the North Indian classical music and can trace its origins to the recitation of Sanskrit texts in Hindu temples more than two thousand years ago. Dhrupad reached the Mughal courts in Rajasthan in the 16th century, where it developed into a classical art form. The name comes from a combination of dhruva, the North star, and pada, word/poetry and means “the immovable word.” Dhrupad can be seen as a form of performance art on various levels- meditation, worship, recitation of mantras and as a ‘yoga of sound’. The ‘fantasia’, a polyphonic composition for an instrumental or vocal consort, was one of the favorite genres of Elizabethan England. It developed from the art of improvisation.

Dhrupad Fantasia gives form to the wondrous fantasy, a visionary idea or illusion by combining ragas based on modal improvisation with the idea of polyphonic instrumental music that both sprang from 16th century court music.

“In this extraordinary recital, gamba virtuoso Romina Lischka, dhrupad singer Uday Bhawalkar along with the Hathor Consort, bring together two seemingly incompatible musical systems: one Western, baroque, and harmonic; the second Indian, timeless and rhythmic. And it works!… this recording offers not only repertoire pieces but also moments of newly discovered, vibrant, and rich music.” – Martine D. Mergeay

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