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About Ragas For Guitar
Ragas are basically a form of traditional East-Indian improvisational music based on classical themes.
Western classical music incorporates 3 elements-rhythm, melody and harmony. Ragas are different, in that they utilize only rhythm and melody. It is music in it's most elemental form. It is the music of the ancient world.
Even though very few western musicians have had access to this ancient and important form of music, it has had a profound influence on modern music. Indeed, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, John Cage, Brian Eno and the Beatles have studied ragas and incorporated them into their work.
While these compositions existed in Sanskrit music notation, (Sanskrit is one of the most ancient languages on Earth) they were not available in a form that was accessible to the Western world. Indeed, this music predates the current western form of classical music.
Over the centuries these compositions were passed down from teacher to student. Along the way, the compositions evolved into their current form, a form that has been embraced by well known East-Indian musicians including, Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan using string instruments such as the sitar, the sarod and the vina as well as wind and percussion instruments.
But the
Sitar, the Sarod and the vina are largely unavailable in the western
world. However guitars and keyboard instruments are commonplace in many
western homes. This prompted Michael Kleniec to create Ragas For
Guitar.
Because the guitar and keyboards are fundamentally different than eastern instruments there was a need to adapt the compositions so that they could be played on western instruments.
Ragas for Guitar is a collection of 6 of the more notable ragas, transcribed, adapted and arranged by Michael Kleniec and published by Gamelon Music Publishing. It is a folio of sheet music combined with a CD featuring Michael Kleniec on guitar and Dev Chakrayerty on tablas (an East-Indian percussion instrument).
The CD also includes 5 bonus tracks, which include 4 original new age compositions as well as Michael's original arrangement of Ravel's Bolero.
As a teacher, Michael realized the difficulty western musicians would have in learning to play Ragas. Because of this, the performances on the CD are a faithful rendition of the sheet music. You can play the performances and read the sheet music simultaneously. This makes it much easier to learn to play the Ragas.
Ragas for Guitar are not just for the guitar. They can be performed on keyboards, flute, cello, violin and many other western instruments.
