Seasons of India

The premise of this disc is a journey by raga through a year of seasons, from monsoon to summer. This makes perfect sense as most ragas have an association with a time of year, as well as a time of day. Steering us through this is Baluji Shrivastav on sitar and its bass companion the surbahar (tracks one and two), ably accompanied by Sukhvinder Singh on tabla. Shrivastav has an exceptional mastery of his instruments, something that shines through most on the tracks featuring the sitar, especially on the fiery rendition of ‘Raag Bhairav’. The bite-sized tastes we get of each raga offer a real flavour of the changing year (as well as tempi and mood).

For me the disc gets more interesting as the year progresses, with a greater sense of ease and inventiveness once Shrivastav switches to sitar for ‘Raag Hemant’. This is also due in part to the distinctive nature of the ragas, and the pairing of ‘Raag Shri’ and the contemplative presentation of the complex ‘Raag Darbari’ at the end of the disc is particularly effective. For someone interested in the traditional assignation of ragas to the time of year, this is an excellent introduction.